Woeful Calamity
by RuGrimm
Summary: Calamity Dragonbane was born and bred a loyal knight of Avalon. When her brother is killed by the Savior of the Spiral, she goes on a quest to kill the infamous wizard. However, what she doesn't know is that she isn't the only one out to kill him and the rest of wizard kind... Disclaimer: Intended for more maturer-ish audience. I do not own Wizard101 or any of their characters.
1. The Dungeon

**Author's Note:  
**

Hey guys, it's Grimm here. It's been so long since I've last been here. Wow, hehe. To be honest, I've really missed you guys. I've had a lot of things happen in real life. For those of you who don't already know, I was displaced from my home in January (aka since my last update) and lost my father the following month. Since then, it's really just been a task of getting life back on track, and I've been working on getting my way back here. You guys really do mean so much to me, and I'll start off small with this fanfiction and we'll see how this goes.

I plan on updating once every Saturday as I do on the Wizard101 Amino, and for my darling fans who don't know this universe, don't be deterred from this story. There might be a few occasional terms you may be unfamiliar with, but knowledge of this universe isn't actually necessary. I implore you to check this fic out, and if you haven't ever tried the MMORPG Wizard101, check it out.

For you new fans just joining into my little universe, make sure to hit that favorite button and follow both here and on my new Twitter account rugrimm16.

Thank you all for your support, and now, without further adieu:

 **Woeful Calamity**

 _Chapter 1: The Dungeon  
_

 _Hate_...I've never felt it so strongly as I do now...

It's a deep hate...festering...bubbling...boiling my insides in a cauldron so deep I thought it could never be filled. But now these feelings are tickling at my brim, and I fear that it won't be long until it creeps over the edges of my soul and spills out onto the nasty stone floor beneath me-a floor that matches the walls and complements the steel bars that confine me to this hell.

I can hear the whimpers of others in the cells next to mine, hungry and begging for mercy...for some relief of these dull grey walls and for the chance to taste the sun on their skins. But I know better...and I sure as Artorious have more pride than to grovel at the feet of a wizard.

 _Wizards..._

They're revolting, lying creatures that bend the wills of hapless creatures to bathe the souls of their enemies in blood all for their so-called-quest to become the strongest. They have no remorse...No thought of the consequences of their actions. They end lives with no hesitance. We all know the stories of even the so called: 'Bringer of Light'. The wizard who 'saved' the Spiral...and ended the lives of nearly half of Khyrsalis, disturbed the rest of the undead from their graves only to destroy their souls in the quest of a few items, took the souls of hundreds of creatures to create copies of them to fight and kill at their leisure, and the King knows what else.

I remember the dying scream of my brother, Sir Agravaine, as That Wizard mercilessly slaughtered him and left him to die in the lonely tower...The blood pooling onto a floor not unlike the one I crouch upon now is fresh in my mind, the sharp smell stinging my nose and the red crept across the floor to greet me like an old lover, staining both my clothes and my memories as I rushed to his aid only to hear his dying wish of a perfect kingdom for his king.

They're all sick, demented, and twisted beings...

I shake the memories from my thoughts, instead looking exhaustedly at the bars in front of me. My arms are aching from being held above my head for so long, and I fear I can no longer feel my wrists that are so brutishly chafed from the metal chains that keep them pressed against the cold stone. I try to stretch my jaw to relieve the pressure on my teeth, but the tight leather that bounds my muzzle is unrelenting. However, above the uncomfortableness of my restraints, I must say that the most unsettling is the cold of this room. It's a constant chill that sets in through my bared fur, and whatever clothes I might have had to shield me from it were taken when I arrived. I suppose they figured I might have made use of the buckles or hid something in my clothing, but regardless of their train of thoughts, my bushy tail is nothing more than a comfort to my modesty instead of a makeshift shield from the cold.

"Is that the one, Valerian?"

My gaze snaps toward the barred door, and a low growl rumbles in the depths of my throat at the familiar sight of my captor beside a strange man in even stranger clothing. It doesn't take long to deduce that his companion is also a wizard.

"Yeah. She snuck into my home about a month ago, and I caught her poisoning my food with Nightshade Berries. She tried to take off through the window, but I managed to stun her and throw her through the magic mirror," muttered my captor.

Valerian Legendmancer: my brother's murderer and a renowned storm wizard in the spiral. I hadn't been prepared for his ice attack, nor had I been prepared for him to port into his home so suddenly. His uniform has changed since the last time I saw him, but it's still the same trademark purple and yellow, and his wide-brimmed hat still sports an obnoxious feather.

"You think she's from Avalon?" asks the new wizard. He's about Valerian's height, decked in a yellow and blue cloaked doublet and lacking in a hat (his hair sticking up wildly like the grasses of the Wild).

With a chuckle, Valerian gestures to me through the bars. "Look at her! She's a humanoid fox, for the love of the Spiral! Where else would she be from?"

"Dunno. With all the crossbreeding and spiral travelers, you can never know anymore. But why would someone from Avalon be after you? I mean, you saved the King, for crying out loud!" He huffed at Valerian's shrug of an answer and then dared to press his face closer to the bars in order to get a better look at me. "Whatcha going to do with her? She looks mighty scares, she does."

With my ears flattened against my skull and the gutteral growl echoing off the walls of my cell, I figure I do make an awfully threatening image, and I can't help but feel my bosom swell with pride at his statement.

"I guess I could just tweak one of my spells to collect her animus. She'd probably make a good opponent in the monstrodome."

Everything froze. My chest became tight with horror, eyes widening in their sockets as I fell silent and my breath caught. He was going to extract my..?

NO!

I snapped from my sitting position against the wall and quickly leapt to my feet, lunging toward the bars with a muted roar fury. I didn't think about my restraints.

I didn't think about the bars. I didn't think about anything. The anger inside me had boiled over, and I suppose it was that anger that had allowed me the force to snap the chains from the wall and once my hands were free, they seemed to find their way to the fabric of Valerian's robe. Within seconds, we pressed against each other through the bars, both our eyes wide for different reasons but nonetheless locked together. I could feel his warmth through my thick coat, feel his puny chest heaving as he took each panicked breath and his soft human skin as slowly ripped through the delicate fabric of his robe from the force of my hold on him.

I imagined that if I could rip off the leather from muzzle I could bury my teeth into his throat and feel him squirm as the blood poured out as it had from my brother. I imagined his screams in my ears as I took his life to repay for the many he had taken. But all I could do was barely lift my lips in order to hiss through my teeth: "Don't touch me, murderer.."

"VALERIAN!"

The brutal blast of the other wizard's wand hit me in the side, throwing me back against the wall with a dreadful SMACK! Valerian tumbled back against the ground, landing on his back and slowly getting to his elbows as he watched me crumble to the ground with a dead weight. My head was spinning, throbbing even from the force of its impact on the stone wall. Nausea set in, and the room grew darker as I watched Valerian's friend rush to his side in order to help him stand. He was obviously still dazed from my attack, and he swallowed nervously as he gazed at my limp form gasping on the ground.

"I'm fine...I'm fine..." he muttered, blinking stupidly as he got to his feet and stared.

"Holy shit, she's freaking crazy man!"

Breasts pressing against the cold ground with every strained breath, I shuddered and managed a tired grin despite the leather.

Crazy, huh?

And then the world slipped into a dark darker than anything I had ever known...


	2. A Knight's Honor and Justice

"That's it, Calamity! Don't back down! Don't give up! That's what being a knight's all about!"

I remember...I remember the smell of spring in the air: the way the pollen tickled at my snout and prompted me to sneeze with every inhale. I remember the way the sun glistened above and kissed my fur to make it appear as if its natural red color were on fire. I remember the weight in my hands, something that at that time had been so heavy and tedious to swing; something that in time I had learned to move as an extension of myself. And most importantly, I remembered his voice.

We were on High Road, training on the plateau near the river. The spray of water was cold during this season, still touched with the past winter, and so we had chosen to move to higher ground and par with the dummies Agravaine had set up. That was the spring he taught me how to use a sword.

"Come on, Calamity! Strike them down! No mercy!" he called from nearby, sitting on one of the many boulders nearby with his legs crossed and sheathed sword lying across his lap.

My breath was heavy, tongue lolling out of the side of my muzzle as I panted and swung the sword with all my might to strike to side of the wooden puppet that was completely laden with marks and missing chunks here and there. As my blade swung into the wood, the momentum stopped only a half-inch in...stuck.

Baring my teeth, I raised my booted foot to press against the puppet and tried to pull it out with all my might, shoulders and arms aching and having spent all of my strength already.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GWENDOLYN! Nnn! COME OUT YOU PIECE OF-YIP!" I yelped as I tumbled backwards with the sword, landing on my tail as I heard my brother's obnoxious chuckle

from nearby.

"You've been bested by a wooden puppet!" he laughed, and I could feel my cheeks heating up in embarrassment as I rose to my feet and dusted myself off. He was gripping his knees with his gloved hands to keep from falling backwards off the rock, head tilted back as he yowled with laughter.

"Ay, cut it out, Agravaine. I'm not as strong as you. I can't do this!" I huffed, turning my head away as I threw my sword down at my feet.

The dark fox stopped laughing, looking at me with a coy smile as he slid off the rock and drew his own sword. "You don't have to be strong to wield a sword, sister. A good knight isn't always strong in body, but strong in mind and will. You're too busy trying to use brute strength to cut down your enemies, but you aren't gifted with physical strength. You were given a great mind to make up for that, so use it. There's going to always be stronger enemies than you, so use that big brain of yours to your advantage."

I watched as he approached the dummy with a blink, gazing at him in wonder as he raised his sword to press against the face neck of the enemy.

"This wood is far too thick for you to cut all the way through. Like a suit of armor, you can't cut through it. So you have to find a weakness. Find where the armor, or the wood in this case, is the thinnest. In this case and in most cases, that weak spot will be at the neck. Target it. Use your sword as an extension of yourself.

"You're using your sword as a weapon, but you should really think it to be an extension of your arm. Swing with both power and grace. Swing with the pride and honor of a knight, and your sword will always aim true." With that, he stepped behind me and sheathed his sword only to pick up my own and place it back in my hands. Putting his paws on my shoulders, he whispered into my ear. "You can do this, Calamity. You're my sister, and that means you're stubborn and smarter than anyone else I know. But, you're also a knight, which means you can use those to bring about justice into this world and obtain what anyone else would think impossible. Together, it means that anything you set your mind to you can accomplish. Just believe in yourself, and the answer will always present itself to you."

...

"Mnnnn..." My brain is literally pounding against my skull, my ears ringing as I slit my eyes open just a crack to wince at the light of the world around me.

Reality sinks in as the fields of green Avalon gave way to the cold stone walls of my prison. Ears flat against my head, I slowly try to move my aching body to ensure that nothing has broken. Although nothing seems to be, it doesn't help that every muscle in my body protests at being moved.

However, it appears that Valerian hasn't attempted to rechain me to the wall or even restrain me again for that matter. I suppose it is because he is too afraid to enter the cell with me after that whole ordeal.

"Well, good morning, sweet cheeks~" An annoying voice adds to the incessant ringing in my ears, and I grimace as raise my head toward the sound. "That was a mighty amusing show you put on for us, darlin'. Ain't seen nothing like it since I've been here, that's for sure."

I rest my gaze on the cell diagonal from mine filled with empty wooden boxes and seemingly unneeded furniture. Atop the pile of junk is a yellow-clad fire elf, smirking at me as he kicks his legs back and forth nonchalantly with a single hand toying with his goatee.

Glaring at the tiny creature, I sit up sluggishly to raise my paws to my face in an attempt to slide the tight leather straps around my muzzle off. As I fiddle with the material and slip it off, my ears twitch at the high-pitched whistle from the fire elf. "Ooo-la-la~ Muy bueno, sen-or-i-ta~"

Licking my chops, I turn to him with a narrowed gaze. "What are you talking about, vermin?"

"I just like making it known what I like, and must I say: Me likey~" He winks at me lewdly, and I tilt my head in my confusion. What is that irritating snack talking about?

"Ah, you foxes really are the daft type when it comes to flirting, aren't you? Must be that whole knight's honor thing."

Rubbing my sore snout, I sneer and roll my eyes. "I don't see what reason you have to flirt with a creature that is more than capable of devouring you in two bites."

"I just like what I see from a distance, is all. I like it...very much," he chuckles, gesturing to himself with a wave from the chin down.

Head still tilted and one ear raised, I follow his hand for a few moments before the truth of what he is implying sinks in. My eyes widen in both embarrassment and fury, and for the first time in a long time, I find my cheeks heating and myself duly flustered. I scramble to grab my tail, pulling it over the front of me as I growl.

"You _pervert_."

"Just pointing out the obvious, mi amor~" he croons with a shrug. "Besides, you're covered in fur. You foxes and your modesty, honestly."

"It's a knight's honor!" I hiss, lowering my chin against the tip of my tail and baring my fangs. "Knights are bound to be humble and chaste!"

The fire elf merely laughs, holding his stomach as he flails his feet in his fit of mirth. "HA! HAHAHAHAHA! W-well it's a little late for that now, darlin'! What we didn't see when you stood up to that wizard, we certainly saw when you were out like a light! Do yourself a favor and don't worry about it. Can't stop me from looking anyhow~!"

"WHY YOU SICK, TWISTED, LITTLE-!"

" _Reynard_!" A pan flies across the room to hit the tiny elf off his mountain of boxes, and I blink as I relax and turn my attention toward the direction in which it had been thrown. "Cut it out and give the pretty lady some slack."

A dog in tattered suit growls as he leans against one of the walls with arms crossed across his chest. He isn't hardly more than half my height, bulldog face allowing for drool to escape from the corners of his mouth. Another companion is with him; from what I had gather, he was a sibling of some sort as the only difference between the two is the placing of brown patches on their otherwise white fur.

"Don't try to be the honorable one here, Baxter. You were looking too," mutters a nearby Firebird, perched in the same cell as Reynard the Fire Elf. He huffs as he cleans out his feathers irritably.

Baxter huffs, "It's hard not to...It's either her or Brutis, and I'm pretty sure I know which one's more attractive."

Baxter's cellmate-which I assumed must be Brutis-growls as he raises his head to glare at the other bulldog. "Ya sayin' I'm not attractive, _mate?_ "

"Do you have a pair upstairs, mate ?" Baxter argues.

Brutis stands as the two growl at each other, snarling and drool falling in globs to the floor. All I can do is watch with a dumb blink. The thought that all these men had been staring at me while I was unconscious in such a lewd manner is...so revolting that I can feel the shudders crawling up and down my skin beneath the layers of red.

" _Knock it off!_ " The roar runs through the dungeon, silencing the tussle between the two bulldogs. I follow the sound to a nearby lioness who steps out from the darkness with her teeth bared. Wearing tribal clothes and a feather dangling from her ear, she wraps her paws around the bars and licks her chops. "Unless you'd rather be next on my menu, boys."

The bulldogs stare at her with wide eyes before whimpering and lowering their heads. Baxter sniffles and tries to suck up a string of drool. "Sorry, lass."

The lioness-as I would later learn-went by the name of Keira: a mass murderer in Zafaria that took great pride in killing the favorite lionesses of prides in order to gain the most power and favor. She was ruthless, cunning, and by far the most threatening of anyone in the dungeon. Out of all of my fellow inmates, she would be the only one to have ever made me feel even a hint of fear in the entirety of my time here. I'm not sure if it was the way she spoke and presented herself, her story, or the necklace of bloody teeth she wore around her neck as tokens...

Keira had been here the longest, followed by Reynard and his bird companion: Felix. The two bulldogs have hardly been here a week, and apparently they were only being held until they could be turned into the Marleybone Police. Nearby is a cell full of imps and a leprechaun by the name of Jack Lantern (an obviously dull and probably fake name in my own opinion). They are all misfits. Keira: the Murderer, Baxter and Brutis: the heist duo, Jack Lantern: the smuggler, Reynard: the insatiable trickster, and I have no idea why Felix is here. He's been here longer than I have, and he's talked only a smidge more than the imps that hardly do more than giggle and say "Poof" incessantly.

"Forgive their eyes, dear. I'd tear them out for you if I would be so allowed," she purrs with a smirk, leaning against the bars as she inspects her claws. "The time will come soon enough, I suppose."

I hug my tail a little more against myself, looking forward toward the magic mirror across the room. "Agreed."

I figure that we'll all be dead soon enough. For Keira, it is only a matter of time. She was slated for an execution sometime in the next week. I don't know the fate of anyone else in this room, but her's has been set in stone for quite some time. Not that I'm particularly bothered by it. She made the choice to kill, and she'll pay for it with her own life. It's the way justice works.

I'll likely end up with the same fate, even though my only attempt to kill has failed. Apparently, my ability to administer justice is not one written for me in the stars.

I lean against a wall before sliding down to the floor, crossing my ankles over each other and still wrapping myself in my own tail. How long will I have?

"Oh! Here he is! The man of the hour! How do ya do, how do ya do?" I can hear Reynard coo, and I lift my head to see the form of the one and only wizard step through the magic mirror and into the dungeon.

"Be quiet, Reynard," Valerian sighs, scowling at the fire elf as he passes by his cell and approaches mine. His cool, fuchsia gaze meets my own, and he stares at me without saying anything for several tense moments. The air is cold, frigid and felt by all others in the room. I can hear an imp nearby say "Poof!" as they all huddle in the corner of their cell, obviously affected by tension between the wizard and me. His shoulders are set, and I notice that once again he's changed whilst keeping the same ugly purple and yellow color. I suppose I must have ruined his last cloak. The form fitting robe is complete with a cape, and lightning designs garnish the fine clothing with the characteristic flair of Storm.

"I see you're awake," is all he says to me, and I notice the sword-like wand in his left hand: a mockery of a knight's tool.

I snicker, left ear flicking irritably as I twitch my whiskers and speak. "Tssk, you could win a prize for that observation, wizard. Are you going to kill me?"

"Depends, are you going to try and do the same to me?" His grip tightens around his wand, regarding me suspiciously.

At this time, a smart knight might have denied it, but my blood was too hot and my tongue too fierce to say anything otherwise. "Any chance I get."

He blinks, and I suppose that's not the answer he was expecting. The surprise on his face is enough to make me smirk. However, it's short lived, and his expression narrow once more. "Why?"

"If you don't know why, then you are an idealistic fool," I snap, gritting my teeth. Surely, he knows the crimes he's committed. If not, I can only assume that he thinks that they are pardonable because the majority of society has deemed them righteous.

"You called me a murderer yesterday. Is that why? Because you think I'm a murderer?"

I have to hold back a bitter laugh. "No. I know you are."

Valerian blinks once again, and I think I have come to the conclusion that the looks of surprise on his face are my own kind of ecstasy. Confusion has set in now, and it's plastered on his face like sick, cheap wallpaper. "I don't know what you mean."

I can hear Keira's laughter from nearby, and both Valerian's and my own attention have turned toward the crazed lioness whose eyes are wide in a frighteningly revolting mirth. "Oh, you're too precious! You've killed more than I have, wizard! You're just mad because someone called you out on it!"

" _I AM NOT A MURDERER_!" he snaps, and his cheeks and neck become painted in a furious red that rivals my own fur.

"Oh really~? What about the lost souls you collect from daily in order to create enemies for your party guests to amuse themselves with?" she purrs, licking her chops.

"They're already dead!"

She laughs again. "They're still living lost souls. By extracting their animus, you are preventing them from ever moving on to an afterlife~"

That surprised looks is back again, but Keira gives him no time to answer. "What about the hoards of creatures under the Shadow Queen's control that you so unfairly killed?"

"I-I...They were part of the Umbra Legion trying to destroy the world!"

"They were creatures with no choice or will, but instead of trying to find a way to save them, you outright killed them. You're no better than I am, puny wizard."

Valerian looks away, and he lets out a long sigh. "I don't do it because I enjoy it. When you're trying to save the lives of millions of others, there isn't time. It was either them or the entire Spiral." He raises his head to look at me. "I'm sorry if I killed someone you love. I can't bring them back. I'm not a Necromancer. I'm deeply sorry for my loss, but I hope you understand that I-"

"Shut up," I hiss, raising to my feet. At that simple action, Valerian takes two step backwards in order to keep from getting within arm's length of me. "I don't want your sympathy. I want justice."

"JUSTICE?! You mean by killing me?!" Valerian blinks and huffs stubbornly. "And then what? If the cycle of justice works the way you think it does, then someone is going to have to kill you. And then someone will have to kill them. And the cycle of death will continue. It's a pointless journey. Give it up and go home!"

"I'll go home when you're foaming at the mouth at my feet," I snarl, and my paws wrap around the bars of my cell as I glare daggers at the wizard.

His brows narrow, knotting together in the middle as his fists curl at his sides. "Fine, then rot in this cell for all I care!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

He turns on his heels, marching straight back toward the magic mirror and stepping through it without looking back. I'm merely left in my cell with more fury than I know what to do with.

The tell-tale whistle of Reynard breaks the tense silence that settles after Valerian leaves. "Man...that was dramatic...If you're that fiery now, I wonder what you'd be like in-!"

 _CLANG!_

I wonder where Baxter keeps all those pans…


	3. Cold

Winter has set in...At least, that's what I presume anyway.

The ever present cold in these cells has increased in severity, and I watch as my breath billows from my nose in a rolling cloud out into the atmosphere around me, running away with more of my warmth. A certain, painful numbness has set in, a thousand icy needles piercing my flesh and sinking deep into my core.

I sniff, trying to keep my runny nose from dripping down my muzzle, and fist my paws in my own tail as I try to press it harder against myself to no avail. My ears twitch at even the slightest noise: from the imps shuffling about their cell to the sound of Jack Lantern flipping coins against the walls to the slight whistle of wind slipping between the tiniest of cracks of the stone inside.

I'm surprised that the snow hasn't found its way inside or that frost hasn't started to gather, but nothing makes its way inside to change the scenery in the slightest.

Everything appears to be the same...Although, I know it isn't. Keira was led away a few days ago, leaving an empty cell beside mine. Baxter and Brutis were taken by the police just yesterday, and the only intelligent conversation left is Felix and Reynard. However, I'm not privy to start something with that lewd fire elf in the first place...especially since Baxter and his magically appearing pans are gone.

It's been awhile since I last saw that wizard. Not that it bothers me in the slightest. His pet Kraken has been bringing us our meals during this time, and I must say that despite our situation, the meals are still decent and well-balanced. I suppose he cares more than he lets on, but I'd rather him send blankets (or maybe my CLOTHES would be nice) and a key out of here than a plate of food and a Kraken whose skin is getting awfully too dry. He obviously doesn't know how to take care of it well enough, and the cold, dry air definitely isn't helping it in the slightest. Truth be told, I have sympathy for creatures like that kraken. It really is a shame to see them suffer due to the negligence of a master. Then again, it's to be expected when being owned by a stupid wizard.

I press myself further into the corner, trying to use my own body heat to warm up the area around me. My joints are aching and stiff from this position, but I'd rather be warm than try to save them.

"Oi, cut out the chattering! You're disturbing my thoughts!" I hear Reynard snip, and I glare at his scowling face from the corner of my eye.

"Are you not cold, elf?" I sigh, tentatively raising my head.

He crosses his arms with a grin and then jabs himself in the chest with his thumb. "Me? Hah! I'm a fire elf! We fire creatures are immune to the cold! Haven't been cold a day in my life, no sir-ee!"

It makes sense now that I think of it, but it nonetheless means nothing to me. It just means that he'll keep bantering on and proclaiming his greatness.

"Keep it down, Reynard. I've had enough of your pestering for a lifetime," scolds his Firebird companion, and I watch as Felix cranes his head toward mine. "If we could cast a spell to warm you, we would."

"If I could get over there, I wouldn't need a spell to warm y-"

Felix slaps the fire elf with his wing, glaring daggers at him and embers shooting from the nostrils on his beak with a huff.

I hold back a laugh as I watch the fire elf tumble backwards off the boxes and lands headfirst in the hole of a tattered sofa. "Why can't you?"

Reynard pulls his head out of the couch, taking off his hat and sticking out his tongue as he tries to swipe away the balls of cotton and pieces of fabric. A tiny little white ball stick to his mouth, and he pulls it away with a disgusted countenance. "Bleh! Ugh! What was that for?!"

Felix rolls his eyes. "You're both a nuisance and an idiot...At any rate, we're dispelled permanently." He raises a long yellow leg, displaying a charm bracelet of some sort with the typical fire symbol. "It's a dispel charm bracelet. As long as we wear it, we can't cast fire magic. And only the one who placed it can take it off."

My ears flatten, and I become crestfallen at this news. To think he'd take away even that... I suppose the only reason I don't have one is because he didn't know which one to use. Then again, I wouldn't know how to use magic. I've never bothered to learn that revolting witchcraft. It would make me nothing less than a hypocrite.

"I'm sorry to hear that…"

"'Course ya are, lass...Means ye won't be gettin' even a wee bit warmar. But I 'ave no sympathy for ya. Ya signed up fer this when ya tried to kill 'im."

It's the first time I've ever heard Jack speak, and I'm too intrigued by his accent for several seconds before I manage a response. "I know that, and I don't regret what I did. Either I kill him or I die. That's what I accepted before I came here."

"Yer funeral, lassie. Dun expec' me to show up. But if yer gonna try again, do it befur we're all lyin' bones on t'e floor."

" _That won't be happening, devil spawn."_

Valerian steps through the mirror, pushing a cart of our daily rations. His hat is missing, unkempt white hair sticking up in nearly every direction and yet somehow still perfectly framing those eyes.

He stops in the middle of the room, and he waves his hands over each of the different plates before they vanish and reappear in each one of our cells. At least he's smart enough to not try and hand them to us. When he finishes, he merely looks around the room and finally rests his gaze on my form in the farthest corner.

Eyes narrowed, I lower my head to press my jaw against my chest, and I bristle as a low growl fills the air. I probably would have made a frightening picture if only I could have hidden the shivers racking my body.

"Do you have too much pride to accept a blanket?"

"I would rather my clothes," I snarl, raising my hackles and flattening my ears. My fisted paws clench tighter in the soft hairs of my tail, and I ignore the slight pinch it causes.

Valerian sighs, face softening as he regards me with likely the closest semblance to kindness I have ever seen on his countenance. "You know I can't give them to you."

"Aye, I wouldn't give them to ya either, senorita. I think I'd rather you without-"

"REYNARD! Learn some restraint!" Valerian snaps, and he turns on the fire elf with his wand pointing towards him.

The fire elf holds up his hands in defense even though he's grinning the entire time. "Go ahead. Better than being stuck here."

"I think you'd be doing us all a favor," I mutter, turning my head away.

Valerian hesitates for a moment as if he were really considering it, but he instead drops his hand and turns toward me. "You're going to get sick like that."

"I'll be fine."

"I'm going to go get you a bl-"

"I SAID I'D BE FINE!" My dinner plate flies through the air but is too wide to go through the bars, instead hitting them with a deafening clang before clattering to the floor spilling a colorful array of food across the stone.

The sound of the plate hitting the bars reverberate through the air, and Valerian flinches before he puffs out his chest. "Then freeze for all I care."

He pushes the trolley out with him soon after, and put my forehead atop my knees with a deep sigh. The shudders race down my spine, body heat racing from my body but failing to ever return. My body and mind are at odds, but somehow I manage not to call after him as his body is absorbed through the fake glass.

If only I had…

…

My lungs were about to burst. Every breath was agony...There was a fire in my chest, burning the precious oxygen I so desperately needed. I was gasping, begging for air that the world around me just couldn't seem to give me. With every inhale, I could feel that fire greedily sucking it all down, leaving me with nothing but a tickle and then a feeling akin to someone wrapping their fist around my lungs and squeezing out the life within.

The world around me was naught but a collage of colors, spinning and making me dizzy every time I tried to lift my head to make sense of everything...of anything. Everything was so cold...yet so hot at the same time.

My body was trembling, and it heaved when I coughed-something that only added gasoline to the flame within. Panting and shaking and begging for air, I tried to focus on the memories of green Avalon and of the feeling of warmth as I lay in my own bed in my own burrow and listened to the sound of Agravaine's stories of the great battles he'd partaken in and the dragons he had slain.

I can hear people whispering around me, but they all seem to be talking in a different language...all muddled together in a great mess that I cannot decipher. There's a great whine of metal...and I try to lift my head to see what's happening, but I can only make out a great shadow looming above me. My eyes are stinging from the heat, watering and threatening to spill out over my cheeks.

That's when I feel a foreign heat envelope me, wrapping its strong arms around me in an embrace I haven't felt in a long time. That's when I see him.

He's there in flesh and blood, looking at me with a concerned expression that I haven't seen in many moons.

 _Agravaine_...He's finally come for me…

There's a certain joy that begins to well inside me, and I can feel the corners of my mouth twitch into the slightest smile. The world begins to fade around him completely into a darkness that nearly matches the black of his fur.

My eyes grow heavy and cold gradually falls away as I lay helpless in my brother's arms. For the first time in a long time, I'm completely at peace...and the hate in my cauldron seems to vanish completely…

As the visage of my brother slowly fades into the darkness, I'm left only to stare at my brother's eyes, and just as my consciousness finally slips into nothingness, I faintly wonder why they're purple…


	4. Cookie

Birds...I can hear...birds chirping…

They're song birds…

I can recognize them because I used to hear them when I would travel through Caliburn to Abbey Road with Agravaine for fresh supplies.

Nostalgia begins to seep in, and I can picture myself standing atop the hill in Caliburn, watching knights joust below and the friars arguing over who is truly the king's favorite. Agravaine is standing beside me, and he puts his hand on my shoulder to steep down and whisper in my ear, "Knights are tasked with protecting all of Avalon...including everyone here, dearest Calamity. I know that there will be no finer knight to protect them than you."

A smile graces my lips, and I roll over to pull the blankets closer arou-…

Blankets?

I must still be dreaming of Avalon...That I'm still in bed, dozing away the day until Agravaine beats me with my own pillows, telling me that a knight doesn't laze around like a drunken tavern bum.

But it doesn't smell of hay and steel...And these blankets aren't made of the fine beard hairs of Hobgoblins.

So where am I?

I crack my eyes open to the bright world around me, wincing at the light and slowly adjusting to my new surroundings. My once square confinement has been rounded in a near perfect circle, and the stone walls have given way to a soft purple, storm-wracked wallpaper. Light pours in from the tall, glass windows, illuminating the room and all the colors I haven't seen in all the time I'd been locked in my cell.

Bookshelves line the walls, and the books move on their own, constantly flying about the room and resorting themselves. A desk with paperwork is neatly organized nearby, and it is beside that desk that I notice the golden birdcage with the two songbirds inside that I'd heard previously. A fireplace burns beneath one of the windows to my left, and it is lined with picture frames from different worlds, and I can make out Valerian in majority of them. Quite obviously, it is more or less a recollection of all of the worlds he's visited and 'saved.'

As I take in the sight of the purple clothes hanging in the nearby wardrobe and the storm-cloud patterns on the bed sheets I'm wrapped in, it becomes blatantly obvious where I am.

A deep and unsettling weight adds to the one already present on my chest, and I swallow as I turn toward the nightstand beside the mattress. Sitting there, and likely already pleasantly cold, is a plate of sugar cookies and glass of milk that is adorned by a note each. "Eat me" and "drink me" they command, and I can't help but roll my eyes at the childish joke. Anyone in Avalon would know the tale of Wonderland...Even though it really is just a tale of the first time a wizard stepped foot into Avalon.

But I wouldn't touch those cookies with a ten-foot tail.

Instead, I grumble to myself as I try to sit up in bed with a wince. The knot in my chest is still a painful reminder, and I find myself laying back down gradually with teeth bared. Glaring at the ceiling, I curse my own state of affairs. Here I am in the enemy's quarters, and I can't even get out of BED?!

CURSE THE GOD-DAMN, MOTHER LOVING SPAWN OF MORGANTHE!

Tentatively, I roll onto my side, and then I notice the tight grip on my wrist. Pulling it out from under my aching body, I held it up to the light and growled.

He chained me.

When I thought it couldn't get any worse…

"I couldn't chance you running while I was gone...But I doubt you could if you wanted…"

I don't even have to look to know who spoke, and my gaze reluctantly flits over in a glare toward Valerian Legendmancer, standing nonchalantly with his arms crossed in the doorway. A cocky smirk is slapped across his face, and he uncrosses his arms to shut the door behind him.

"How are you feeling?"

He probably know exactly how I'm feeling, that fomori-dung. I'm not even inclined to answer the question, so I simply turn my head away to watch a book fly from its position on its shelf and place itself snugly between two different books of another shelf.

"Oh...so you're ignoring me now? Real mature," he states, and I can hear the eye-roll in his voice. I watch out of the corner of my eye as he pulls up the chair from the desk and sits backwards in it beside the bed. Arms lying across the top and resting his chin upon them, he continues. "You should thank me, you know? I saved your life. I didn't have to; I could have just left you to die in that cell."

It's a bitter reminder of reality...I can vaguely recall the brief moments of consciousness where I would see him attending over me, pressing a rag to my forehead and whispering sappy words of encouragement. It was like something one would imagine when thinking of a time they were sick in the presence of a loved one.

The thought of him being that person makes my skin crawled, and somewhere deep down, I'm starting to wish he HAD left me.

Valerian sighs, looking down at the ground for a moment before returning his vision to me. "Will you at least eat something? You haven't had much for the last few days...Just what I could manage to feed you without you throwing it back up everywhere."

Days? I've been out that long?! I would have imagined a day...maybe two at most, but the way he makes it sound is as if it has been nearly a week. There's a pit in my stomach as I imagine what he could have or what he might have done to me in all this time. I notice with sinking horror that he hasn't given me back my clothes back, and the thought that he might have taken a knight's chastity is one of my darkest nightmares.

However, I try to bring myself back to the present moment, and at his question, my eyes narrow. I don't want anything he tries to give me. Whatever he does, it's likely poisoned or enchanted with a magic only the King knows. Shaking my head, I press the blankets harder against my chest.

"What? If I was going to do something to you, I would have already done it. Come on. I saved your life. Doesn't your knight code have honor? Shouldn't you owe someone who worked so hard to keep you from ending up six feet in the ground?"

"I'd only consider us even…" I mutter, still refusing to look at the white-haired wizard completely.

"Really? Are you serious?! EAT SOMETHING, YOU STUBBORN FOX!"

I wish then that I had been paying more attention to him. A sudden weight collapsed on top of me, and I let out a yelp as I realize that the storm wizard has jumped on top of me with a scowl. My arms move on their own accord, flailing and trying to bat away my attacker as I growl, but I'm still weak. I'm no match for his superior strength as he grabs hold of my wrists with one hand and procures a cookie from the other, trying to shove it in my mouth, but I turn my head away in retaliation. I squirm. He tries to use his weight to keep me still. The struggle continues on as I shake my head, try to free my hands, and growl. Why I don't bite him, I don't know. I guess it has to do with the rule of never biting the hand that feeds you...Regardless, my chest is aching by this point, and my already tired body is too fatigued to carry on much longer, so I buck my hips in an attempt to throw him off…

It only makes it worse.

...This day just keeps getting fricking _BETTER_.

While it unbalances him, it sends him sprawling forward on top of me, and the position we end in is...less than favorable to either of us. My arms pinned above my head, his elbow on a pillow beside my head, body sprawled across my own exposed one (thanks to our struggle completely knocking off the blankets), and faces practically millimeters apart from each other to the point where our heavy breaths mingled in the minimal space between us-it paints a very uncomfortable picture to say the least. I can feel his chest heaving against mine, feel the warmth through his clothes as a similar one spread across my flustered face. For the first time, our wide eyes meet for the same reason, and we are completely silent for several tense moments.

Every muscle in my body is frozen in place, too scared to move an inch. Jaw slack, words can't even form on my tongue for my mind is going far too quickly to process anything. His semi-long white hair has fallen down with the help of gravity, and I can feel it tickle my snout, though I dare not sneeze.

My heart is fluttering inside my heaving chest, and I could feel my pulse thrumming throughout my body. Whatever pain I was in is completely masked by a pure adrenaline that leaves me absolutely speechless. I feel so helpless...but...at the same time...I...I think I enjoy it: this odd feeling within.

"Uhhh…" The surprised and flustered sound that falls from his pale lips is the only thing that breaks the silence, and hesitantly swallows as his brain works to process the predicament we're both in. However, it seems though that the moment he blinks is the moment he finally comes to his senses and crawls off of me and the bed with a bright pink flush to his otherwise white face. He doesn't even make eye contact with me, merely holding out the half-crumbled cookie toward me blindly. "Just eat it, please?"

This time, I don't even question it, and I simply reach out my paw to take the cookie and eat it without hesitance. It's dry...probably left out for a while now as it awaited my awakening. I don't even want to think about what the milk is like now. However, I can detect the faint hint of raisin in the crumby cookie, and the sweet taste is welcome on my tastebuds.

I make short work of the cookie, and the whisper that comes out is more out of habit than my own train of thought.

" _Thank you…"_

Valerian only stupidly nods, and I think that he found the flying books as entertaining as I had...

As he looks back at me from the corner of his eyes, the blush grows brighter, and he completely turns his head away. "Um...You might want to...uh...fix...the blankets...And I think I'll go find you some clothes now...Just...uh...um...e-enjoy the cookies…" he manages to stutter out, fidgeting with his hands nervously.

I contain my yelp of surprise as I realize what he's implying, and I grab the mussed blankets to pull them over myself quickly. My heart is hammering in my sore chest, and I pull the blankets up to my eyes and over my muzzle, watching Valerian briskly striding toward the door and stumbling over a mystery item that I can't quite make out from where I am.

He turns around at the door as if he is about to say something, but he only nods once before hastily grabbing the door handle and walking out to leave me in the silence of his own bedroom.

I tried to comfortably lay on my side, still going over what had just happened in my mind…

So close...I had been so close to him, and looking back now, I realize that I completely blew my chance to get my revenge. It would have been so easy to do as I had planned to do so long ago in my cell, and bury my teeth in his throat until he became as red as my own fur. But I froze...Why did I freeze like that?

Maybe it was just the way those purple eyes looked at me, so surprised and vulnerable at the same time...Like a mouse caught in a live trap…

Or was it the flutter in my heart when he came so close to me? Was that normal?

I shake my head to try not to think about it. Whatever...I'd have my chance again.

A scowl makes its way back onto my lips, and I press my cheek against the pillows as I stare forward toward the wall. However, I can make out the plate of cookies in front of me…

Maybe just one wouldn't hurt...


	5. The Rose Under the Moon

A miserable wail slices through dead night, settling over barren lands with no ears in which to earn pity. Not even the moon peers out from behind its cloudy prison, nor does the stars.

Fog rolls across the earth, embracing it in a frigidly bitter blanket that brings no comfort to any living creature that it touches. The dead arms of trees sway of their own volition, dancing to the song of death on this windless night.

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._

The sound of boots on wet cobblestone mingles with the poignant whimpers in the night. Drying blood splatters with every step, following the trail of dark crimson to the body aimlessly crawling away from the shadow nonchalantly approaching.

Tattered yellow clothes cling to the wizard's body, and he holds on pointlessly to the broken staff of his wand. Tears mingled in the puddle pooling beneath him, slowly draining him of what little life was left inside. His mahogany, water-clouded gaze dares to look over his shoulder, and he cries out in terror as he sees a glistening blue orb slowly making its way toward him. The light it casts illuminates the vermilion trail he'd left behind, and the stained black boots of his attacker.

Nails digging into cobblestone, he tries vainly to drag his failing, limp body forward and farther away, but deep down...deep down he knows.

 _He is going to die._

Panic's cruel tendrils crawl throughout every inch of him, sinking deep into his mind as he turns and throws what is left of his wand toward the shadowed visage only to have it bounce off the shadow futilely and disappear from sight.

"GO AWAY, YOU SICK MONSTER! GET AWAY FROM ME!" he screams, voice hoarse and choking on the bile rising from his stomach. The stench of blood is overpowering, and the knowledge that it wasn't just any blood but his own was a reality that was almost too much to handle. Every fiber of his being was trembling, and his crying escalated as he scrambled to keep moving.

"Urchk-" A sharp pain and debilitating weight presses against his spine, putting a stop to his movements. Eyes wide in terror, he tries to squirm out from under the weight but to no avail.

"You think you can run from me, wizard?"

A cheeky, white smile appears in the darkness, brightened by the light of the attacker's staff. Cruel, violet eyes narrow and glisten with a twisted glee. "Tell me where he is."

"I-I-Uhn! I dun...don't-"

"YOU KNOW! DON'T LIE YOU PIECE OF FILTH!" Raising his boot and bringing it down mercilessly on the deep lesion across the myth wizard's back, he brings out a shriek akin to an animal caught in a trap.

"I-I don't! I don't!" The wizard's words come out blubbering-snot, blood, and tears all streaming down in a colorful waterfall that added to the red spilling out beneath him and steadily growing by the second.

An equally terrifying giggle interrupts the wizard's sobs, and the attacker raises his staff to shine upon a woman dressed in a black uniform. Curled, green hair falls to her shoulders, framing an otherwise innocent face with equally emerald eyes. Soft freckles line her cheeks, and if it hadn't been for the scenario and the bloodthirsty gaze, she could have passed for an irreproachable girl.

She is leaning upon an unproportionally large, crystal hammer, and she licks her lips as she stares at the whimpering victim on the ground. "I don't think we'll get anything from this one either. Are you sure you're asking the right questions, darling?"

"Don't nag me, Lilu. I don't have time for this," he snarls, and he raises the light just high enough in order for the wizard on the ground to make out his features.

Clad in a dark, black leather with spiked shoulders, the otherwise tan skin of the wizard gives way to pure white hair crowned with two long and curved horns. He holds his head high with pride, and his violet eyes contain all the cruelty in the world.

"You don't have time for me, Val?" whines Lilu, her pale lips tugging into a childish pout. "A man who only knows his work and forgets the feel of a woman is no fun for anyone."

One eye twitches as he glares at his green-haired companion. "Don't call me that."

"Oooooh, because VALKOOR is SO much more frightening~" Lilu laughs as she rolls her eyes, gripping her hammer tighter in her mirth.

The wizard on the ground moans as he can make out two pips floating at his fingertips. His body has begun to go numb, darkness prodding at the corners of his vision. Sound is becoming nothing more than background noise, giving way instead to silence and the sound of his own heart faltering. However, he knows what he must do.

Tilting his arm slightly, he lets his last card slip onto the bloody cobblestone and presses his shaking fingertips to the smooth surface. With every fiber of strength left within, he manages to whisper, "T...Te...Tell...Va...ler...i...an…"

And with those words, the banter between the two others cease. Both pairs of eyes are on him as the card begins to glow and then finally vanish in a yellow light.

"Well...perhaps he isn't as dumb as he looks~" croons Lilu, a sinister smirk spreading from cheek to cheek.

Valkoor blinks stupidly for a second, regarding the wizard beneath his boot before his eyes widen and steps away only to violently kick the yellow-clad wizard in the ribs. "YOU-!"

The wizard screams in pain, sobs beginning once more as the adrenaline fades into nothing but a pure, white-hot agony. He can feel the rest of his ribs breaking as he's rolled several feet from the force of the impact.

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT! TELL US WHERE HE IS!" Valkoor grabs the wizard by his cloak, hauling him up by the tattered fabric with one hand before the other repeatedly bashes the other's face until the cloth finally gives way and sends the wizard falling back toward the ground.

Too weak to cover his face, the wizard can't fight back as he feels the blood gushing from his nose and mouth, teeth falling to the back of his throat, and he gags on them as he hits the ground with dull thud.

"That's enough, Val."

Coughing, the wizard rolls onto his side as he hacks up the teeth with a copious amount of red to go with it. Vision fading, every breath is like another kick to the ribs. He can feel his broken ribs ripping into the soft flesh of his lungs, allowing every precious breath escape inside him and instead replacing them with fresh blood and other bodily fluids.

Lilu slowly approaches the body on the ground, holding up a hand to the white-haired man beside her. Kneeling without a care of the blood as it stains her black-clothed knees, she gently lifts the top half of the wizard into her arms, cradling his head in the crook of her elbow. Gentle fingertips brush his cheek as she wipes away the tears.

The wizard looks up into her gentle, green eyes, his own gaze slowly slipping away and half-lidded as if he were becoming lost in the forest of her stare.

"Oh...you poor thing…" she whispers, and the wizard can make out the gathering of tears in the corners of her eyes. "Cody...Your name is Cody Titanblood, isn't it? That's such a beautiful name. You don't deserve this. It isn't any of your fault, Cody. But I can make it all go away...I can take away all of your pain. Trust me, Cody...Look into my eyes...Trust me…"

He couldn't help but continue to stare, and the more he stared, the more he could feel the pain slowly give way into nothingness as the numbness creeps up from his toes and toward his hips. Unconsciously, he allows the slightest of nods as he feels the trickle of her green hair against his face canopying over him.

"I can make it go away...Just tell me where he is. Tell me where the Lightbringer is. Tell me where Valerian Legendmancer is, and I will save you."

"Va...ler...i...an...is…"

She lowers her head to his lips to listen to his whisper, and she closes her eyes in content before raising her head to look at him with that same innocent smile. "Thank you."

With that, she cups his cheek and strokes it with her thumb before tilting her head and pressing her lips tenderly to Cody's. Lilu lowers him back down, and she stands before turning away from the myth wizard. Resting his cheek against the sticky ground, he watches her in a daze walk away from him only to pause and look over her shoulder with a wide grin.

"I'll make sure to send Valerian your regards, wizard."

With a giggle, her eyes widen as she approaches him once again. However, he can hear an odd scraping sound amongst the pattering of blood beneath her boots, and he follows her form down only to see the hammer dragging behind her.

His eyes widen, and the panic sets in deep as he opens his mouth to beg.

"NO! NONONONONONONO!"

His helpless screams fill the air as she raises the hammer high above her head with a mad cackle, Cheshire grin splitting her crazed countenance. The clouds finally part to allow the moon to look down upon the earth with its sorrowed glow. It watches as its light glints in the crystal of the hammer and-

 _SPLAT!_

The moon shines upon a beautiful red rose wrapped in fogged blanket.


	6. Unexpected Visitors

The rest of the day came and went with no sign of the wizard who had promised me actual clothes. Instead, his loyal Kraken presented me with a bowl of tomato soup and sliced cuts of ram tenderloin. The meal was as decent as ever, and it lead me to question whether or not it was Valerian or another servant of his who cooked the meals of this manor.

As I wake the next morning, my jaws open wide of their own accord to let loose a yawn into the empty air. Compared to yesterday, the ache in my chest has substantially decreased. I'm starting to feel like my old self, and as I recline against the veritable mountain of pillows against the headboard, I begin to ponder what the last few months mean in the long run. Is fate trying to deter me from my mission?

No. _That's preposterous_. These newfound predicaments have merely proven to become nothing but simple roadblocks on the way to my ultimate goal.

As my strength slowly returns to me, the options will begin to present themselves to me. I'm sure of it. However, for the time being at least, I'll play along with whatever game that wizard is playing.

Curiously, I pull slightly against the chain around my wrist and realize that the iron extends under the bed, leaving plenty of slack for me to work with. Ears perked and alert for any warning signs that the anyone might return to check on me, I cautiously swung my legs over the bed and slid off the mattress to touch my bare feet to the floor.

This was it. I could just reach under the bed now, find where I was chained to, unlatch myself, and I was technically home free. I could sneak out a window or tiptoe out the door and down the stairs. That stupid wizard wouldn't see anything coming. I'd kill him and be out of here in no time.

With a sinister smirk, I began to tenderly push myself to stand when I heard three distinct knocks on the door.

" _Hello~_? Are you awake, dearie?"

How did I not hear anyone come up the stairs?! Annoyance sets in as I grit my teeth and quickly jump back into bed, pulling the blankets up to my shoulders-ears flat. "Go away," I growl. I have no idea who's on the other side of the door, but I have no patience for anyone at the moment.

"I'll take that as a yes."

The door creeps open, and between the door and its facing manifests the long-nosed, spectacled face of a woman I've never seen before. As she steps into the room, her slouched form becomes more apparent. She sports a near orange-colored hair striped with greys and white-touched with age and topped with a brown hat that matches her likewise homespun chocolate, long-sleeved shirt and blue jean skirt. Large, obnoxious boots thud against the wooden floor as she lugs a large suitcase with her. Setting it down near one of the bookshelves, she adjusts her glasses and then pulls at the white frills adorning the hem of her shirt. "Well, good morning there. Quite toasty in here compared to the outside, isn't it?"

"It's fine…" I mutter. What the hell she's doing here is anyone's guess. I instead turn my gaze toward the flickering fireplace nearby.

She chuckles merrily, taking off her hat and setting it on top of her suitcase. "Aren't you a spirited one? Valerian told me you would be."

The name Valerian sets in beneath my skin like hot needles pressing in from every direction. It's a word that crawls through my fur like tiny parasites, sifting through every strand to further irritate my nerves. What does she know about me anyway?

"Hmmm, you two don't seem to be getting along much at the moment either," she observed, something that should have been blatantly obvious thanks to my restraints. The older woman smirked as she approached the bed, much to my displeasure. "But I hope we can get off to the right foot. So, let's start with those chains. Can't be getting dressed with those, now can we?"

She snapped, and the chain around my wrist fell off without hesitance. Blinking stupidly at it for several moments, I couldn't believe that for the first time in a long time, I wasn't wearing any constraints. However, as I looked toward the door, I couldn't believe how stupid she was.

Without a moment to lose, I jumped from the bed toward the door in a single leap, landing on both feet before sprinting forward with my hand outstretched toward the handle. My fingers barely touched the handle when-

 _SNAP!_

 **Xxx**

 ***Valerian's POV***

Trash.

Trash.

Trash.

Not happening.

Trash.

A deep sigh falls past my lips as I haphazardly fling envelopes over my shoulder. Honestly, you save the universe once, and then it's like you're entitled to millions of fan mail and random requests every single friggin' day.

Throwing the last piece of mail aside, I rest my elbows on the table, burying my face in my hands with a groan.

"Master? Should I throw these in the fire?"

Skeet.

Despite his small stature, meek demeanor, and the single antler he's sporting in place of two, he's always been my most trusted servant. Next to Dyvim, Skeet has been the most spirited Burrower I have ever met.

"Go ahead. Either that or give them to Fluffy. He loves to chew on paper," I mutter with a slight nod, and I can almost hear the Amethyst Hound beneath my chair licking his chops as he watches Skeet pick up the envelopes one by one.

" _Fluffy?_ Sir, don't you think you could have come up with a more creative name than that?"

I open my eyes to glare through my fingers at the Burrower, frown tugging at my lips. "He was in the middle of hatching when I got him. I had like...point three seconds to come up with something and that's all I could think of. Besides, Mariah was with me, and she literally kept chanting it in my ear."

Skeet smirks as he tosses an envelope toward Fluffy, the hound catching it before it hits the ground and nearly inhaling it. The rest of the mail is promptly thrown in the nearby fireplace, the fire whooshing as it devours the paper greedily. "It's been quite a while since the whole gang has been together, hasn't it?"

I sigh, resting my head on my hand as I watch the mouse warrior scuffle to the nearby cabinets and procure a bottle of Hive-Juice which I procured mass quantities of as a gift from the Queen Bee herself. As he sets a glass in front of me and pours the viscous liquid, I can't help but take in his words. How long has it been since all of us have been in the same place? Cody has visited nearly weekly, Mariah and Scarlet have been here once in a while, Angel hasn't been here in a month, and I haven't seen Vanessa since last Christmas nearly a year ago. In fact, I'm quite sure that the last time we were all together was that very same Christmas Party.

"It has, and thank you," I say as I take the glass into my hands slowly and stare into the yellow liquid. "Help yourself as well, Skeet. You've more than deserved it, my friend."

"It'd be a pleasure, sir," he humbly replies, pouring himself a glass before sitting in the cushioned red chair to be left that is likewise facing the flickering fireplace. The bottle is set on the end table between us, and he raises his glass toward me. "To the old days."

Our glasses clink with a reverberating chime, and we both raise them to our lips to down the honey-like substance. I sip at my own, reveling in the sweet taste and memories.

"Do you remember," I begin with a nostalgic smile, feet propped up on the mahogany coffee table in front of us, "the time when Mariah tried to put grains of Kermes Fire in your shoes?"

"And then Scarlet panicked trying to save me-" he continues, his own smile growing with mine.

"-But the as soon as she picked them up and ran five feet-"

"-they blew up and covered her head-to-toe in black ash-"

"-that wouldn't come off for a week," I finished, both of us chuckling and eventually quieting down in a dull silence.

"I remember Lily complaining that she could fix wounds, but not clothes, and then you tried to wash it out by casting a mini tempest. You ended up making her look like an overcooked fish," Skeet continued with a mild giggle, and the reminder only stirred the deep ache in my chest. I assume that he picked up on it, for he was quick to apologize. "Oh! My sincerest apologies, sir! I didn't mean to-"

"No...No...It's fine. It's all over now. I've already come to terms with what happened," I mutter as I set my glass aside and intertwine my fingers just below my chin. My violet eyes narrow as I watch the flame dance in their stone prison, licking at the walls in desperation for more fuel and for more freedom. In a way, they remind me of the prisoner upstairs.

Skeet lowers his ears and dips his head. "I don't mean to bring up such a tragedy on such a sorrowful occasion. It's been two years to the day, hasn't it?"

Two years? Has it really been that long?

"Time flies when you're having fun, eh?" I manage, swallowing the lump in my throat, but by the concerned look on my companion's face, I can tell he's not impressed.

"I'm sure that she would have wanted-"

KNOCK! KNOCK!

I can hear banging on the main doors, and my brows furrow together as I try to formulate who it might be. Eloise arrived an hour ago, as per scheduled, but I don't recall ever asking anyone else to assist or to even come over in the first place.

Skeet begins to rise to answer the door, but I hold up my hand. "It's all right. I've got it."

Taking my beloved Sword of Kings from its place on the nearby wall, I start toward the massive, wooden doors with a tense stride. Grip tight on the familiar handle, I pull back the door slightly to peer outside when I'm met with an unexpected sight.

Winter greets me like a friend, chilling my bones as the wind creeps beneath my robe and up my arms. However, it's nothing compared to the persons standing at my door.

"VALERIAN~!"

A girl with bright red hair and a slightly less red grab throws herself at me with arms stretched wide. She clad in a Marleybonian dress that is unbuttoned to the point where I'm afraid that should another button pop loose, her cleavage will come tumbling out like numbers out of a Bingo machine. Her bangs are gelled back while the rest of her hair is pulled to the side in a long braid. Tights hugging her legs with ankle-high high-heels, her scant uniform is enough to make me question how she's not freezing in this weather. Then again, I've never heard of a Fire Wizard being cold.

"Ma-Mariah," I manage, eyes wide as I hesitantly embrace her back. Her cheek is rubbing against mine in the most uncomfortable fashion, and my cheeks heat to the same color of her fiery hair. "Wha-What are you doing h-here?"

"Why, I came to visit you on such a dreary day, of course! I knew you were likely making a big fuss about it, so we thought we'd surprise you~!" she coos as she steps back with both hands on my shoulders.

"We?" Looking past the fire witch, I can make out a familiar head of white and the nostalgic yet gloomy downcast gaze of Scarlet Skullsplitter. Clad in a Dworgyn-style robe and boots, her hands are clasped together behind her bast as she stares at her feet with a touch of pink across her nose and cheeks. Hair hanging over her eyes, I can still tell its her by the mumble she provides.

"Hello…"

I should have known that Scarlet would have come too. Knowing Mariah, Scarlet was likely dragged here regardless of whether or not she felt like coming.

Mariah giggles as she basically prances toward her gloomy companion and wraps her arm around her waist, leaning heavily on the death witch. "Can babe and I come in, or are you going to leave us lovely ladies out in the cold?"

"No, no, of course not. Come in," I welcome, blushing as I step aside and gesture for them to enter. Mariah leads Scarlet in with a laugh and looks around as she shakes off the snow clinging to her dress.

"Wow, you haven't changed even a picture in here. Don't you ever redecorate?" she complains, waving her hand around nonchalantly.

Scarlet shakes out the blue tunic over her shoulders, snow falling onto the carpet below. "I like it…" she mumbles, not daring to make eye contact with anyone.

"There's no reason to," I defend, shrugging as I catch a glimpse of Scarlet's shudder. She's still cold, I can tell. Unlike Mariah, she can't warm herself on the flip of a switch. "Come. Skeet has a fire going. You can warm up there while I have him grab you something to drink."

"About time. I thought I was going to have to ask you to offer some common courtesy AGAIN," Mariah complains, rolling her eyes as she strides past me and to the nearby room where Skeet is standing in the doorway. "Sup, Skeets-man?"

The mouse's ear twitches (likely out of annoyance) as he manages a polite smile and a bow. "I am quite well. It is a pleasure to see you again, and so lively as always, may I mention," he says with the slightest hint of distaste. He was never a fan of Mariah's theatrics or passionate nature. "What may I serve you with on this fine afternoon?"

Mariah gasps with delight, and her hands slap together as if she were praying. "OH! You must simply make those little Honey Bee Crumb Cakes like you used to! They were absolutely the cutest things EVER!" Her high-pitched squeal at the end is enough to make everyone in the nearest twenty miles wince.

"O-of course, madame. It would be my pleasure," he manages with gritted teeth and a bow. As he stands and turns to leave, he notices Scarlet, and his mood lifts almost immediately. Approaching her, he takes her hand in his own and bestows a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "I must say, your presence is brighter than any fire I have ever known. It warms my heart to see you again, your grace."

Scarlet blushes as she watches Skeet and then turns her gaze to her boots. "Th-Thank...you…I have missed you too..Skeet…"

Mariah grins from ear-to-ear, and she crosses her arms as she leans on the nearby doorway. "Now, now, mousey, there's no stealing my sweet-ums if I can help it~"

Skeet's smile fades nearly as quickly as a lit candle in a windstorm. "I am WELL aware, Miss Fireforge. However, I at least have the decency to show respect and nobility in the presence of others unlike some. Now, if you would excuse me…"

The mouse kisses Scarlet's hand one last time before stalking off in the direction of the kitchen.

Mariah giggles, watching him leave before prancing into the warmth of the living room and throwing herself to sprawl on the royal red sofa. "Ah~ That mouse needs to learn to loosen up a little. Maybe the reason he's missing one antler is the fact that he lost it up his-"

"I like him…" Scarlet scuffles slowly to the sofa and looks down at Mariah with the same frown she always wears.

Rolling her eyes, the fire wizard sits up and pats the seat next to her in an invitation which the death wizard doesn't hesitate in taking. As the redhead puts an arm around the other's shoulders, she turns to me with a smirk. "So what WERE you doing before we got here, other than sulking?"

I sit in my normal chair after setting the Sword of Kings in its rightful place on the wall, resting one foot upon my knee casually and taking another sip of my drink. "Answering my usual fan mail, like usual."

"Pfft, that reminds me why we let you take all the credit for saving the universe and all that," she says, waving it off with a playful smile which I can't help but laugh at.

"And you had what right to that title? Last time I checked, you spent most of our time in Khrysalis sick because you decided to drink that spoiled camel milk like that merchant told you not to."

Mariah's smile falls into a deep pout as she looks away before speaking. "Well...I mean...If I hadn't been sick, then I wouldn't have had this cutie to nurse me back to health, would I have?" She turns to Scarlet, kissing her on the cheek sweetly and rubbing her arm.

The death wizard merely blushes more and dips her head so that her bangs fall over her eyes. "I don't understand why you didn't have Lily do it…"

The name makes the room fall into silence, and I look away toward the fire again.

 _Lily…_

The explosion...the scream...the blood...It's like a sick replay in my head and-

"-ian! VALERIAN!" The sound of my name on Mariah's lips jolts me from my thoughts, and I snap my attention back to the couple on the couch.

"I...I'm sorry. I didn't realize I'd zoned out…" I apologize, and by the concerned look on both of the witches' face, I know it was longer than I thought it was.

Scarlet's gloomy face softens considerably, and she tilts her head in a clearly sickening sign of pity. "I know it hurts...We all hurt. If there is something I could do to change back time, I doubt any of us would hesitate, but there isn't, and you need to accept that."

Normally I would have been angry at something like that, but I could never be angry at Scarlet. I doubt any level-headed person would. There's something about her that is like a pacifier to emotions, and I presume that's the reason why she's such the perfect match for someone as exuberant as Mariah. All I can do is stare at my foot and let out a long sigh.

"I know...I have. However, you don't get over something like that easily...and I doubt I ever will...Love doesn't ever leave…" I manage, and it is at that moment that I hear the clinking of the tray Skeet is carrying.

The sweet smell of honey permeates through the air, and it's enough to distract all of us from the dismal topic we have been on. My stomach rumbles, sharing my opinion as I see the small slices of yellow cake on individual platters.

"Here we are. For you, Miss Skullsplitter," he begins, naturally handing the death witch her piece first, followed by myself, and then (begrudgingly) Mariah.

The fire witch lets out a muted squeal of joy as she takes the plate, her eyes wide as she stares at it with her mouth wide open and drool visibly gathering at the corner of her mouth. Lifting her fork, she begins to cut into the slice when Skeet clears his throat.

"Excuse me. Where are your manners?" He casts Mariah a look, and she blinks before she realizes her blunder. A blush that rivals her hair in color spreads from ear to ear, and she quickly dips her head in unison with her partner's.

Skeet and I follow suit, and although I've never shared the mouse's ideals, I've always respected them.

"Mother Moon, we are grateful for everything you have bestowed upon us. The tides that sweep upon the land and nourish the soil and thus bring life to the food we are about to enjoy are testaments to your greatness. From the sea, to the soil, and to our bodies, we thank you. May you continue to bless us."

I've never understood why Skeet has always felt the need to bless everyone's food (regardless of whether or not he was partaking in its consumption), but I've never been brave enough to challenge it.

As soon as Skeet was finished, I looked up to Mariah almost pounce on her cake like a lioness on a zebra, quickly taking a bite and moaning as she tasted it.

"Oh my Spells, it's like an org- _oof!_ "

Turning a bright red, Scarlet didn't hesitate to elbow her partner in the ribs, shooting the other an embarrassed death glare.

I couldn't help the laughter that fell from my lips, my lungs nearly bursting as I had to set the plate aside to keep from it slipping onto the floor. Skeet only rolled his eyes as Mariah soon followed suit, the two of us clutching our stomachs as we hunched over in our mirth. Scarlet soon joined with her unsure little giggle of a laugh, holding the tips of her fingers against her lips in an effort to stifle herself.

CRASH! BAM! BANG!

"HOLD STILL WOULD YOU?!"

Our laughter is cut short by some sort of commotion from upstairs….Wait...upstairs…

Eloise and that stupid little hateful fox….

"What was that, darling?" Mariah frowns as she turns her head toward the entrance to the main hall, her brows narrowed in thought. "Did you ask someone to try and give Fluffy a bath again?"

"No...that's just an unwelcome visitor…" I mutter under my breath as I rise from my chair and start toward the stairs. "Just stay here. I'll handle it."

"You know, this is exactly like those horror plays where that one person says that they'll handle a noise in the basement and they never come back…" she surmises, pressing a finger to her cheek in thought.

I can't help but roll my eyes, and I look toward Scarlet who is still curiously listening to the ruckus upstairs. "Don't let her harass Skeet too much."

"Are you sure that I shouldn't accompany you sir?" the Burrower asks, tilting his head as concern becomes evident on his stern countenance.

Nodding, I grab my sword once again with a deep sigh.

"I've got this."


	7. Scared

I didn't necessarily think it would come to this. Sure, the thought that she might be a witch crossed my mind, but never in a million years did I think this sort of craft was possible.

Originally, I thought the idea of dashing through the door before the old woman could react was a good one, but the old lady has faster reflexes than I could have ever imagined.

And never, in my entire life, have I been humiliated in this fashion (pardon the pun)...

This woman...is the devil…

"That should do it, dearie. We're almost done. Just hold still and-"

Hold still?

HOLD STILL?!

This crazy lady has literally restrained me with MEASURING TAPE. Wrapped around my wrists, muzzle, and ankles, I'm literally stretched in the middle of the room, hanging above the ground by a seamstress's common, everyday tool like I'm a helpless mannequin. In fact, I would probably rather be a mannequin right now.

Naked and stretched on display like some sick offering to a wraith, waiting for me to be sacrificed to purify the blood of sinners, I thought it couldn't get any worse…

Until HE barged in.

I presume he must have heard the commotion from the struggle between me and the enchanted measuring tape, because he charges in the room with a sword bared and ready to strike only to halt dead in his tracks with the most shocked and equally horrified expression I have ever seen on any wizard's face. Likely, I would have been too in his position.

Frankly, I wish that we could trade places...but who wouldn't in my situation?

"Oh? Hello there, Val. I'm sorry if I disturbed you. She was a little more rambunctious than I was initially prepared for," Elois excuses as she stands with her back toward the door and bent over an actual mannequin. A sewing needle is floating near her head as her body seems to shield the fabric she's sculpting like a true artisan.

The storm wizard blinks stupidly for a second, his chest still heaving from the run up what I believe to be stairs beyond the door. His blade is resting against the wooden floor, and as I run up the shining silver edge to the dragon-wrapped hilt, I instantly know this well-crafted instrument of death. It's the Sword of Kings, the legendary sword of Avalon...and it doesn't belong in the paws of this murderer.

With a growl in the depths of my throat, my fur stands on end and my eyes narrow into deadly slits. I lean forward the best I can, testing the strength of my restraints, but I already know the answer...No matter what I do, my opening to kill this monster isn't now.

Valerian's deep purple gaze rests on me when he snaps from his stupor, and it is with a rising anger that I realize what he was staring at. THAT PERVERT!

AND I THOUGHT REYNARD WAS BAD! WHEN I BREAK OUT OF HERE I'M GOING TO-!

"She's unfortunately more spirited than I would have liked…" mutters Valerian, turning his head away from me to watch Elois work. What was that supposed to mean?!

The seamstress only chuckles, shaking her head as she pulls her hand above her head in order to pull a thread tighter. "And why is that? It's healthy to have a little excitement in one's life, Valerian. Bartelby knows you need some."

With a huff, he crosses his arms, white bangs falling over his brows. "Excitement? She's been trying to kill me for the last moon and a half...How is that healthy?"

"I think that you're going about this entirely the wrong way, young wizard," she muses, humming to herself now as she takes a step back and continues before Valerian can open his mouth to counter her argument. "I believe that should do it. Now out with you. You're a grown gentleman who was taught a set of manners, show them and give this lady some respect. Out, out, out!"

Blushing, he huffs as he glances at me one more time before reluctantly stepping out the door with the Sword of Kings in hand.

One day that blade will finally do its justice and find its way deep in his gut…

Suddenly, the measuring tape begins to loosen, and I find myself falling face-first onto the ground, nose smashing on the wooden surface below.

"Oops! Sorry about that m'dear. I meant to do that a bit gentler and let you down. But I suppose that will deter you for some time before you try charging blindly at that door again. Now, let me help you up, dear."

I can hear her boots tapping on the floor, each tap getting closer than the last and sending another chill up my spine. A wizard is going to touch me...again. There is no telling what she'd do to me, what magic she'd curse me with.

I won't have it.

As she nears me and the boots stop, I quickly roll away to the side before jumping to my feet with back arched, ears flattened, and teeth bared. "Don't touch me, witch-scum."

She regards me with a blink for a second, as if somewhat surprised of my reaction, but the moment quickly fades as a sickeningly sweet smile graces her lips. "Now, now, you can complain later after you've tried on your clothes. It won't do you any good trying to kill someone in the nude. Come on, let's get you dressed," she chimes, turning from me as she grabs the garments she's been laboring on and presents me with the bundle: a leather vest padded on the inside and on the outside shoulders with thick wool and then decorated with red pinstripes that dance down the fabric to give it a spark of life to an otherwise bland design. Beneath is a pair of black leggings and a black belt with a golden buckle.

"There's a pair of boots beside you as well, and I do believe that those be the right size for you, hun. Go on ahead now; don't be shy."

This woman, despite my attitude toward her, has stubbornly made me clothes and hardly batted an eye at me whatsoever. I don't know what her deal is, but I'm too enthralled with the idea of finally having clothes to worry about her or the fact that my clothes were made by a wizard.

The actual feeling of fabric over my fur is nigh relieving to say the very least-a luxurious comfort I have not taken any pleasure of in the longest time.

"Ah, it feels good to be wearing something again, doesn't it? And that vest should be mighty comfortable and warm. The wool is made from Ice Weavers, should keep you cold even out there in those winter storms so far north."

And it was...so very warm...almost like wrapping my torso in a warm blanket. I nod hesitantly, tugging on the hem and marveling at the way she's managed to make these clothes so fitted to me and so perfect in such a short amount of time. Despite my distaste for wizards, she has managed to earn respect in my book. Then again, I highly doubt that this wizard has ever killed anyone with a sewing needle and measuring tape.

She snaps, all of her equipment coming together and magically sorting themselves in her rather large briefcase. As the leather bag snaps shut with a resounding click, wrapping up any evidence of her being here (other than my new-found outfit), she starts to circle me with an appreciative nod. "Yes, I believe that does suit you rather nicely. But that's just little old me talking, hehe. The question is, do you like it?"

I pause for a second, taking in her confident smile and kind eyes with an astonished countenance of my own. It's obvious that she knows the answer, but it's hard to not give her an answer in the light of her service to me, no matter what Valerian might have paid her. Reluctantly, I manage a nod and dip my head. "It is very appreciated, Miss Merryweather."

"Oh! You do have manners! I knew there was some Avalonian-courtesy in you, even if it is deep down," she teases, and my ear flicks irritably at her jest. Nevertheless, even if she did notice my annoyance, she still would have acted with her signature nonchalance. "Now, have fun stirring up trouble, dearie. I'll be working on a few new things for you to try on for a while, and I'm sure I'll be back to see you soon again. Try not to get yourself killed; you really are a lovely model."

"Thank you again," I mutter, doing my best to ignore her taunts as I give a small bow and watch her pick up the suitcase and start toward the door. I watch with an intense gaze as she opens the door, and it's obvious that she notices my stare from the smile growing on her face. However, she does nothing to deter me as she steps out and closes the door without doing a thing to put me back in restraints or lock the door or anything that would have kept me from going downstairs. It was as if she were encouraging me to travel outside this room...In fact, it was more like baiting than anything.

But what reason would she have to encourage me to leave this room?

Did she feel sorry for me and wanted to give me a chance to escape on my own? Or was she affected by the sinister nature hidden inside all wizards?

Was there an escape or a trap waiting for me?

There was only one way to find out. Tentatively, I reach for the door handle, pulling the only obstacle between me and the outside open. In front of me, a long, winding stone staircase presents itself to me, leading down into an abyss of unknown.

I can feel a cold draft coming from the staircase, and it ruffles my fur and sends a chill across my face and to my neck where it meets the collar of my new winter-proof vest. Closing my eyes, I let out a deep breath as I will myself to take a step forward onto the steps and closed the door behind me.

Tiptoeing down the never-ending flight of stairs, I find myself plotting what I would do. Would I kill Valerian on sight, or would I find an escape so that I may come back and try again when I was more prepared?

Then again, if I left, that would also leave Valerian time to prepare. If I had a chance now to kill him, why not take it? If I remember correctly, there was a-

"We couldn't thank you enough for your services, Mrs. Merryweather. It was truly a pleasure to have you here. Take this as a symbol of the master's gratitude for your troubles."

A man's voice cuts off my train of thought...a deep voice with an oddly squeaky undertone that most undoubtedly makes for a strange combination. I can see shadows on the coming wall, and I pause in my steps as my ears perked to listen in on their conversation.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. Keep your money, dearie. You know I love making outfits for the master. This definitely brought a little spice in my life that I've been lacking for a while. You know, she's a real wildfire, that one. A real keeper, she is, I think."

"There will be no keeping, Mrs. Merryweather. We don't necessarily tolerate _murderers_ here."

HAH! He'd talk, working for someone as disgusting and cruel as that wizard, Valerian Legendmancer.

I can hear Eloise's muffled laughter. "Oh, I don't think she's a murderer, dearest Skeet. Far from it."

This 'Mr. Skeet' snorts at her statement, and I can almost hear the eyeroll in his tone. "And what makes you say that?"

"The eyes, Mr. Skeet. Eyes never lie, and in my travels, I have seen many. She has the eyes of a scared girl with nowhere to run and no healthy way to deal with the anger inside. In time, I believe she'll turn around. If you never let a bird from its cage, you'll never know if it can fly. Good day, Mr. Skeet."

I can hear Mr. Skeet bidding her farewell and the tapping of Eloise's boots getting further and further away before there was a loud slamming of a heavy door and then...she was gone. For several moments, there is silence, and it takes a moment for me to process what she has said. Scared girl? As if! A knight isn't scared of anything, in fa-

I can hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet heading in my direction, and a feeling of dread begins to settle in my stomach. What if that was Mr. Skeet? What would happen next? I'm defenseless. I don't have any weapons…

I don't even notice that I'd stopped breathing when I pressed my back as hard as it could be against the wall. My claws dig into the stone behind me, and I can hear my heart pounding my ears. What am I going to do? What am I going to do?

I'll tackle him! I'll sink my teeth into his neck and...and…

"Ssssskkkkk…?"

I blink as I turn my head toward where the sound is coming from and see absolutely nothing. What was-

"AAHHH!" I yelp as I feel something grab my leg, and consequently, I end up jumping up nearly two steps where I land on my backside in a defense position. What could have possibly touched...oh…

I hadn't accounted that it might be lunchtime yet, and the sight of the pet kraken standing below me with a small tray of steaming strips of some mystery meat is a reminder that stirs my stomach away from nervous nausea and into hunger.

"O-oh...I...It's you...Hello there…" I whisper, the Kraken blinking at me confusedly as if it were still trying to comprehend my reaction. "You startled me…"

I stand slowly and look at the pet for a moment before trying to step around it. It steps in my way. So, I step in the other direction...only to have it blocking my path again.

"Move it, pipsqueak," I hiss, gritting my teeth as I try to force myself past it, but it only touches my leg to let loose a bundle of electricity, sending a shockwave of pain all the way up my body to the tips of my ears. _"****!"_

Collapsing backward, I can make out the Kraken still staring at me as if it were expecting me to go back to the room, but I'm not going to back down to a tiny little storm pet! With a huff, I stand again and raise my hand as if about to force my way through again when an idea suddenly finds its way into my thought process.

"Um...say...can you find Valerian...? Can you find your master?" I ask, trying to manage a smile that likely is more akin to an awkward grin. Stooping down to its level, I rest my hands on my knees as it tilts its head and blinks with a blank expression. "Master?"

"Kkkkrrrr…." It nodded slowly, turning and slowly making its way down the stairs in the correct direction.

Honestly, I didn't think that that would work in the slightest. Deep down, I almost felt bad for the little guy...He was being so easily manipulated into leading his master's killer to his master. Then again, it would likely be a world of newfound freedom without his master treating him like a slave.

As we make our way through the several corridors of the castle, we follow a long stretch of red rugs until the thick waft of smoke met my nose, invading it with its pungent aroma and bringing out the sick swirling of my innards. Laughter fills my ears, and I can make out the flickering of light coming out from the room in front of me.

I pause near the corridor, peaking around the corner into the room where I could make out Valerian sitting on a padded chair and casually sipping a glass of viscous, yellow liquid. The Sword of Kings sits on the wall nearby, glinting in the light from the fireplace.

It is calling to me...Beckoning me…

"Master, would you care for another glass?" It is that same voice again. I follow it to a figure coming out from an unseen section of the large room, and I can see what appears to be the form of a Burrower...at least, I think it is supposed to be one for he sports a single horn in place of the typical two and is clad in a chocolate brown suit that stands in sharp contrast to his greying fur.

Valerian raises a hand, shaking his head. "No, I'm fine, Skeet. Thank you."

Skeet bows, closing his eyes as he did so before turning to look to another corner of the room. "Would you care for some, Miss Skullsplitter?" There is no audible answer, but it gives me information that there is at least one other person in the room. "No? All right. Should you need anything, do not hesitate to ask, mon cher. I will now excuse myself for the time being."

The Burrower dips his head and disappears out what I assume is a separate entrance. Now...if I can only get my hands on something to...There! A bow display nearby. I only need an arrow...just something to stab him with…

I take an arrow from the quiver and turn toward the room again with narrowed eyes. The ground seems to be trembling beneath my feet...but I know that it's just my own nervous shaking. Is what Elois was saying true? Am I actually just scared? Scared of what? This is my destiny! It's simple! I just have to kill Valerian Legendmancer, and everything will be okay! Life will go back the way it was...and….and...I can become a knight once and for all, just like brother wanted and…

A lump begins to form in my throat as my stance turns rigid and tense...

 _No...I have to stay loose. A loose stance provides more fluidity and faster reflexes. A good fighter is never tense…_

My grip tightens on the arrow, and I close my eyes as I breathe in and out. This is it...Today will be the day that my nightmares end. Today, I will avenge my brother and every other innocent life this wizard has taken-for our _honor_.

 _Today...Valerian Legendmancer is going to die, or I will die trying._


	8. With or Without Honor

***Valerian's POV***

It all...happened in a blur…

One moment, I was talking to Skeet, and as soon as I turned my attention to Scarlet, I saw a flurry of movement to my left...and the eyes that met mine sent maddening trembles down my back and where they gathered in a bundle of nerves that seemed to make my whole body rigid with fear.

I hadn't felt this sort of fear in a long time, but seeing HER running toward me with nothing but anger in those green eyes was enough. The sight of an arrow held tightly in her hand completed the picture and gave meaning to the fury written across her face. Nevertheless, even as I saw the teeth bared and the intention in her actions, I could see that glimmer of hesitance I have noticed since day one-a hesitance that gives her hope.

A light switched turn on at the last second, and I moved to dodge her attack, but it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that my delay had cost me an escape. There was nothing I could do.

As the glint of metal on the tip of the arrowhead caught my eye, I held my breath as I continued to move forward to the table where my spare wand was sitting.

"VALERIAN!" Scarlet let out a dreadful scream, and I didn't bother to look up at her likely terrified expression.

In that fraction of a second, my mind began to picture that dreadful arrow pierce in my throat, red flashing across my gaze as I lay on the ground and twitch pathetically. I could imagine my attacker standing over me with eyes wide in shock over her success and Scarlet letting out a scream of fury as she tried to decide between getting revenge or saving me.

However, it was not to be.

 _SMASH!_

Hand wrapping around my wand, I looked up to find not the figure of my attacker looming over me, posed to deliver her final strike, but an all too familiar and welcome one.

Clad in a white robe lined with two sets of faded, dark-gold buttons and gold trim whilst sporting a black wide-brimmed fedora with a blue feather that seemed to bring out the wearer's equally light blue, short hair, I took in the sight of the infamous Angel Dunerunner…

I've never quite understood how Angel has always been able to suddenly show up at the most ridiculous of times, but I've stopped questioning how the warlord has apparently managed to spontaneously teleport at the drop of a feather for quite some time now. Better to save my questions until after we're out of mortal danger anyhow.

Now, I'm kneeling on the ground with my wand in one hand and my other gripping the table. Eyes wide, I look straight ahead to the growling fox lying on her front on the red carpet, holding her stomach with both frustration and pain written clear as day across her countenance. Angel is standing above her, black boots just inches from her muzzle and a machete clutched in his left palm.

The balance wizard glances over his shoulder at me with the same, stoic expression on his face as ever, raising a hand absentmindedly to pull at his signature red scarf as he speaks as if the scarf is wrapped so tightly around his throat that it prevents him from talking. "How do you fare, Valerian?"

...He's never been talented at socialization, but I'm not about to demean the wizard who is equal to Scarlet in strength and just literally saved my life.

I swallow, blinking as I slowly rise to my feet. "I'm fine...Thank you…"

The fox at our feet grits her teeth and tries with every visible amount of strength in her body to get up, only managing to lift her torso slightly from the ground. Hate seems to roll off of her in thick, veritable clouds: the kind that makes me nauseous to the core. "I...will...kill you…"

Those words sink in like a stain on carpet, and I swallow as I cast a glance at Scarlet who has already summoned her self-sized scythe, clutching the long, black handle tightly as her golden eyes are trained solely on the fox.

Angel snickers, walking around the gasping Avalonian slightly with cold, calculating eyes before raising his boot and striking a visibly painful blow to her side that even causes me to wince. She yelps as she's forcefully turned to lay on her back from the blow, the arrow dropped in favor of clutching her abdomen. Her entire form is shaking, and a lump of pity begins to grow in my throat as I watch the balance wizard circle her like a vulture around carrion.

"You can try, but you'll have to do it from the grave…" he murmurs, a brow irritably twitching as I notice the grip on his machete tightening. I haven't seen such a cruel glare on Dune's face since that fateful day oh so long ago…and it's like something out of a nightmare…

Nevertheless, the determined fox doesn't show an ounce of fear on her face, though I'm sure that somewhere deep down, her soul has been thrown into great turmoil. "Whatever it takes...Do your worst, wizard-scum…"

I catch sight of Scarlet in the corner of my eye, and the astounded expression on her face is stuck to her face like fresh snow upon the ground. With parted lips, she blinks and gazes from the Avalonian to me and then to Angel as if she doesn't know what to do; and to be totally honest, I'm not quite sure either. However, the moment Angel's jaw tightens, and he points the blade at the body lying helpless on the ground, I catch the brief flash of terror in the Avalonian's eyes.

 _Green eyes...that meet mine in terror…_

 _Green eyes...that meet mine understanding that this was the end…_

 _Green eyes...clouded in a cloud of black smoke and the greedy tendrils of flame…_

"Angel."

My mouth seems to move of its own accord, lips pulled by ghost-like strings. All the attention in the room is turned toward me, and I dare to challenge Angel's bland gaze as I step toward him and put a hand over the balance insignia on his shoulder pad.

"That's enough."

His brow and the corner of his mouth twitch briefly in unison, but he says nothing as he compliantly (yet hesitantly) takes a step back away from the glaring Avalonian below.

As I turn my attention to the anthropoid, I notice the mix between confusion and lingering hate thrown my way, but it doesn't deter me in the slightest as I stretch my hand out toward her, ignoring my instincts to avoid the threat in front of me. However, something compels me otherwise.

"I apologize for my friend here. He gets a bit carried away someti-un!"

 _Gravity is a bitch._

The Avalonian is kind enough to remind me of that.

In a single sweeping motion, she catches me off guard as she manages to kick my feet out from under me and send me tumbling down onto my back. It only takes a fraction of a second before she's on top of me, having stolen my wand from my hands and now pressing the blade firmly against my throat. I'm awestruck, eyes wide as our gazes meet again, but even as I feel the steel begin to dig deeper against my skin, she doesn't press any further.

Scarlet is on us in an instant, swinging her scythe far above her head and catching a glint from the fire that gains my attention as Angel takes a step forward with machete at the ready. The death wizard's face is contorted in an odd mixture of anger and focus, and as she prepares to swing the magnificent blade cleave the Avalonian's intentions literally in half, I shoot my hand upwards, warning them not to get any closer as I stare intently at the fox above me. She-the fox-is struggling; I can tell by the tremble in her hands and the waver in her stare. All this time, I've known that there was something holding her back. There have been far too many opportunities to kill me by this point anyhow.

Suppressing a wince (more from the knee in my stomach currently than the sword against my throat), I gently place a hand over my attacker's, doing my best not to startle her. "Do you REALLY want to kill me?"

Her ears flatten, and she lifts her lips in order to bare her teeth with a guttural growl. "Y-yes!" Grip tightening on the sword, I can feel the beads of blood gathering where the blade is slowly piercing my flesh.

I do my best not to jump at the slight pain caused by the pressure, and as I start to press her hand and the handle away from me, I manage a rasp sentence. "I don't think you mean that."

"The likelihood of persuasion is below 12%, Valerian. Allow me to kill her before she poses a real threat," Angel states in an irritatingly dry tone, and I shot him an equally stern glare back. He only rolls his eyes in response, lowering his machete to his side as he likely decides to put a little rare faith in me.

However, my glare is short lived as I feel the Avalonian press against me and harder than ever against my neck. Eyes wide, I do my best not to move as my body stiffens in an effort to not find itself any closer to the sword.

"I will kill you and avenge my brother, wizard scum. I don't care whether I live or die so long as you end up in the Hell you belong," she hisses, an ear flicking as it becomes harder for me to breath from the force on my throat.

"Valerian!" Scarlet interjects, taking a step forward.

"N..oo….Scar...let….wait…" I manage, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes from the lack of oxygen. Blood is now starting to trickle down the side of my neck, and the instinctual panic was beginning to kick in. Toes curling in my shoes and peripheral vision blurring, I know I have to do something quickly. "Then...stop...and….kill me...like….a re...al kni...ght...with...hon...or…"

Something inside the fox snaps as she blinks in surprise, the pressure on my throat easing before she shakes her head quickly and resumes. "What the hell do you mean?"

I'm not sure what came of me to say what I did, but as the words fell from my lips, not even the gargantuan blade of Scarlet's scythe could have cut the tension. Despite the loud crackling of the dying fire or the growling of the fox on top of me, there was no denying the two hoarse words that fell from my lips and left nothing but silence in its wake.

" _Fight...me…"_


	9. The Duel

***Calamity's POV***

How did I ever agree to this?

He was there...right there...And I was so close...oh, so close.

I'm not sure whether it was the ghost of my brother in my ear telling me differently or simply my conscious deep down that persuaded me otherwise, but I had found myself giving up the best opportunity I've had thus far in the name of honor.

Honestly, the stupidity of it all...

I huff as I stand on my side of the arena, checking over my arm and wrist guards with a stern expression. Sword sheathed on my hip and leather guards on both my arms and legs, I am clad in the bare minimum of what a knight should in combat. Then again, it isn't really necessary on my end.

What I can't understand is the lack of armor on my opponent who is standing amongst his three wizard friends and that Burrower slave nearly twenty tail lengths away.

Satisfied with the state of my gear, I rest my hand on the hilt of my blade and run my thumb across the fine carving of a dragon head and down the golden body, feeling the exquisite design in its entirety like a blind child feeling its mother's face for the first time. A sense of pride tingles from my fingertips to my heart, and a brief smile twitched at the corner of my mouth. However, it is short-lived as I think of the agreement I have made…

"You're being stupid, Valerian," I can hear someone complaining, my acute sense of hearing picking up on the voice across the arena. Craning my head, I can make out the form of a scantily clad woman in red, her hands on her hips as she scowls at Valerian.

The wizard that had stopped me from killing my target earlier holds an annoyingly boring frown on his face, his arms crossed and machete hanging from his golden belt. "You are at a disadvantage by 37%. It is a steep percentage to gamble with one's life. I would advise against this."

"Thank you for the information, Dune!" snapped Valerian, and I can make out his irritance from here. I don't necessarily blame him, as the statistical wizard has already gotten on my nerves on more than one occasion.

A death wizard, by the looks of it, approaches Valerian meekly and says something that I can't quite make out. Valerian pauses for a moment before nodding and embracing the smaller wizard tenderly. Curiosity begins to form, and I wonder whether or not they are mates. They have similar appearances, so it is difficult to tell whether or not they are related or it's simply coincidence that they share like features.

Something deep inside my soul begins to stir at the possibility of them beings mates-one I have never quite felt before. However, I quickly shake it out of my mind. The battlefield is no place for self-discovery and meager trains of thought.

I shake my head, sniffing in annoyance as I cross my arms over my bosom. This storm wizard is taking an awful amount of sweet time.

"We don't have all day, wizard," I growl, an ear twitching as I traverse the dirt arena to the center. My tail swishes freely behind me, and I never once lose my grip on the sword latched unto my belt. I suppose I make a confident picture, although there is a deep feeling in my guilt that this in itself was a bad idea.

Valerian casts a glance over his shoulder at me, and he closes his eyes with a defeated sigh. Turning on his heel, he begins to approach me with hands lax at his sides. "In a hurry to get this over with, I presume?" he asks, and I notice his Burrower approach from my right side as well.

I don't bother to answer the wizard's question, flicking a reproachful glance toward the mouse knight. "What is the slave doing here?"

"Slave?! Why, I have a name, you savage!" the Burrower hisses, his tail lashing behind him. "Sir, please teach this brute a lesson before I do."

"Restraint, Skeet. It'll be over soon enough," he reminds the infamous Skeet, whom I assume was the same Skeet who had spoken to Miss Merryweather earlier. The storm wizard raises his attention to me, motioning to Skeet with a gesture of his hand. "This is my trusted butler, Skeet. He will be our referee for this match and ensure that there is no foul play."

Foul play? The only foul play that could be done would be solely on Valerian's side. If he must need a referee to keep himself in check, then perhaps this was a bad idea, and I have no qualms about sharing it freely.

"Must we need a referee to keep you in check, wizard? Or will you forget the terms of our agreement?" I mutter bitterly, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Valerian holds up his hands in defense, bowing his head. "I remember them clearly. However, I wanted no question on the fairness of this match; especially when it comes to the end of the duel."

"Hmph...Fair enough."

Skeet steps forward, eyeing me cautiously as he speaks. "There will be no magic in this duel. May this be a fight with swords, claws, teeth, and anything else currently and physically inside of this arena. Intervention will be punishable immediately by the execution of Valerian Legendmancer. Should Valerian Legendmancer lose, the victor shall take the honor of executing him. Should he win, likewise, the fox will have to submit for the time period of one week without any attempt to claim the life of Valerian Legendmancer. These are the rules. Are there any questions or comments about what I have stated?"

"Calamity," I mutter, glaring at the Burrower. "My name is Calamity, slave."

The Burrower only casts a disdained scowl in my direction, and a certain bitterness drips from his tongue with every syllable he speaks. "I don't care what your name is, savage. May the Master have mercy on your soul, 'Calamity'."

His sharp wit is in turn reciprocated by the annoyance that seems to have grown within me. After this duel, I would take great pleasure in hanging him by his own tail from the highest tower I can find.

Valerian only sighs as he motions for Skeet to leave with the waving of his hand. "Thank you, Skeet."

Skeet exhales sharply, looking between the both of us for a moment before marching off to where the other wizards are standing. They're all standing with their weapons at their side, and it's enough to make me question whether or not Valerian will uphold his part of the deal. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't, wizard scum.

I shake my head. Now isn't the time for me to be focused on that. As long as I can kill him, there shouldn't be a problem. There's plenty of escape routes. I've already calculated a way out. I just need to focus on this match.

Placing my hand on the hilt of my blade, I take a shallow bow toward the wizard before me. He, in turn, does the same. "May the best knight win, wizard."

"You know, I'd appreciate it if you would treat me with the same courtesy you asked for, Calamity," he mutters, and as I stand straight again, I can make out a hint of a smirk on his pale features. "Valerian Legendmancer, Knight of the Silver Rose, Savior of the Spiral, Honorary and Graduated Student of Ravenwood School of Wizardry, and voted Number One Sexiest Wizard Bachelorette in the Spiral, if you please. But, I don't mind if you use Valerian for short."

 _Great._

He has a " _sense of humor_ "...

With a snicker, I roll my eyes and unsheathe my sword, the sharp sound of the metal sliding from its prison like music to my ears. Pointing the blade toward the wizard with flattened ears, I growl, "Then I'll etch your full name into your rotting flesh when I'm done with you."

His smirk only twitches at the corners as he reveals his own less exquisite blade. "I'd like to see you try."

"ABOUTFACE!" cried our 'referee', and we simultaneously turn our backs to one another. " _EN GARDE!_ "

My heart is starting to pound in my chest as we both take ten steps forward, our blades raised high in front of us and shining in the midday sun. This is it. It is about to begin-either my downfall or my retribution. As I take my position and turn on my heel to face my opponent, electricity seems to power through my body and out the tips of my fingers and ears. Every nerve is humming with timid delight.

"Ready? ALLEZ!"

Even with the cry that began our match, neither of us take a step toward one another. Our eyes are locked, and we stand in silence as the wind sweeps past us and stirs the dirt at our feet. Perhaps, not even the Sword of Kings can slice the tension in the still space between us. I can hear my heart pounding in my ears, and my fingers tighten their already iron grip on the hilt of my sword.

I'm not even aware of my legs starting to move, but I can feel the adrenaline starting to pump faster through my blood-faster, and faster, and faster, and faster, until-

CLANG!  
Our blades meet with a deafening clatter, and my muscles strain to fight the force between my much physically stronger opponent. We're standing in the center, Valerian having countered my strike with an eerily similar ease.

My heels dig into the soil, putting in my effort behind the force of my blade, but Valerian merely does the same in return. His once cocky smirk has disappeared into a dark, concentrated scowl, white hair mussed and casting a hooded shadow over his narrowed amethyst eyes. Dirt gathers at the corner of his boots from the force of his pressing down, and my breath hitches as I realize he is gaining the upper hand, our blades already starting to inch closer toward me. My feet are slipping, and it's only a matter of time before he breaks through and lands a devastating strike on me.

I sidestep, letting his blade slip and the rest of him stumble forward. Blade catching a glint of the sun beating down on us, I raise the Sword of Kings in an effort to try and garner the upper hand from his stumble, but he manages to parry single-handedly and then thrusts toward my torso. Inhaling and arching my back, I narrowly miss his lunge and instead spin and slash my sword horizontally to my right. It whistles through the air and narrowly manages to slice his pale cheek, blood beading from the miniscule cut.

Valerian hisses as he steps back as he raises his free hand to wipe-more like smear-the blood from his face. Legs partially spread and chest already heaving, his eyes focus solely on me as I begin to circle the wizard like a ghulture, my tail swishing behind me slowly. I imagine I make an imitating picture.

Without any ounce of hesitation, I rush at him again, and somehow, he manages to parry each blow effortlessly. His movements are so fluid, each step like one of a skilled dancer. He's not the pushover I would have imagined for a wizard.

Both hands on the hilt, I swing my sword over my head toward him, and he narrowly dodges with dive to my left, rolling on the ground and springing up just as I rush him again. I jump, side-slashing at him this time, and he holds his sword up in an attempt to block again. The force behind me sends him falling back and me stumbling forward. Digging my toes into the ground, I manage to keep myself from falling.

Valerian is sprawled on his back now, looking at me in shock as I gather myself and heave my sword over me in order to swing the final blow.

Terror glints in his eyes as he visibly swallows and scrambles for the sword that had clattered onto the ground beside him in his fall. My heart is in my throat, making it hard to breathe as I begin to tremble slightly in the moment.

The reality that I'm about to kill someone is one that is now sinking into my brain, and what I hoped would be excitement for my first win is something much more akin to fear and indecisiveness.

"Come on, Sexiest Bachelorette, you're supposed to know how to use a sword-ow!"

" _MARIAH!"_

I hear a cry from the audience nearby, and I can't help but cast my gaze to the red-clad witch who's been hit upside the head with the handle of a machete.

It's enough of a distraction for the wizard to make use of, and the air is knocked from my lungs from the force of a body tackling me. The ground greets me like an old frenemy, and I gasp as my eyes widen and the weight above me presses my diaphragm inward. My body jerks from the force of the impact and then lies still in shock as my mind tries to catch up with this chain of events.

Valerian huffs as he presses his hand to the center of my chest in order to raise himself up and thus hold the hilt of his sword in line with his temple, the tip of the blade pointing toward my muzzle. My eyes crisscross as the blade presses against my nose, jaw slack.

"You're finished, Calamity. I win."

NO! I WILL NOT LOSE TO THIS-THIS-THIS MURDERER!

Everything in me screams in protest, and as I did in the incident with the stupid cookies, I bucked my hips in an effort to knock him off-balance. However, he was prepared for it this time, instead using my move as a way to wrap his legs around me, ankles underneath my struggling form in order to both stabilize himself and further immobilize me.

I roar of fury escapes my lips as I squirm beneath him, but I still the moment he presses the blade to my throat like I had done to him last night. His strong form leans over me, and grits his teeth in frustration, likely at my stubbornness. "You're. Done."

Eyes starting to burn with unwelcome emotion, I raise my hackles and flatten my ears in anger. "No..."

"Yes. It's over. Admit it, Calamity."

"I will never...stop trying...to kill you…" I manage, a heavy weight pressing on my chest, and I know it's not the person sitting atop me.

Valerian's features relax as he sighs, closing his eyes and slowly raising himself off of me. He stands, towering over me and white hair nearly glowing from the light and sweat that is also dripping from his brow. Lashes slowly lifting, he sheathes his sword and then holds a hand in my direction. "You agreed to let me change your mind. Won't you uphold your vow, as a knight?"

Part of me wants to take his hand, and as sit up slowly and my fingertips graze his, I pause. He didn't win fairly. If it hadn't been for his stupid friend, I would have ended him! I WOULD HAVE WON!

 _It's all HER fault!_

I turn my head away from him and snap my hand back, expression hardening. There's not much for me to say, but I figure that my silence will be enough of an answer for him. Closing my eyes, I can hear Valerian's irritated sigh and the following sound of his boots crunching on the ground in the opposite direction.

"WOO! GO, VAL~! GO, VAL~!" I hear that annoying redhead chant, and the anger inside me begins to build.

"Yes, Congratulations. I thought that you had only a 54% chance of winning this duel, but it is apparent that she lacked in the determination required. Your match slightly entertained me. You did well, Valerian."

"Yes, sir, good show."

"I'm glad you're okay…"

…

I will kill her for interfering with our match, and then I will kill him for cheating! ALL OF THEM WILL DIE!  
I leap to my feet without thinking, and I don't even bother to grab my sword from the ground in my fit of fury. All I can feel is anger and resentment for their cheating-for opportunity lost.

Rushing toward them, I let out a yowl of rage, claws unsheathed and teeth bared. The looks of surprise on their faces are lost on me as the first one I see is that red witch, and there's no rationale left inside me. All cries fall on deaf ears, and as I lunge toward the scantily clad witch, I can make out the angry yet fearful expression on the tiniest wizard's face just before I feel every rib in my body breaking inwardly.

A massive force meets my body, and stops my torso in its tracks, my limbs outstretched in front of me as I'm literally hanging midair for a fraction of a second. Pain ripples throughout me, coursing through every fiber of my being. Blood trickles out the corner of my mouth as I feel my ribs tearing into my lungs from the force of the impact.

The tiny, white-haired girl doesn't stop there, completing her swing of the hefty, unproportionately large scythe and thus flinging me backwards into the arena. Flying through the air backward, the world flies by and even spins as I hit the ground and skip like a stone on water, flipping with every contact. I can feel my bones shattering and body bruising every time I strike the dirt until I'm left lying on my stomach. A pained groan pushing through the blood pooling in my mouth and out into the air. There's no way to describe the agony I'm in now, burning inside me like a wild flame and destroying every bit of calm sanity I have left. My anger is nothing but an erupting volcano that has been dormant for so long that the boiling magma cannot breach through the cold, hardened top. I'm trapped by pain, trembling on the ground as tears prick at the corners of my eyes.

Why? Why can't I win? Why can't I ever make him proud?

 _Why?_

A sorrowful wail comes through my lips and breaches the air, and I don't care to look at those stupid, good-for-nothing wizards. The wail only adds to my pain, and it's cut short by a coughing fit, splattering blood on the ground and inflating the pain in my chest.

I'm a stupid, useless being; I'll never be a knight. I'll never avenge my brother; I'll never find peace.

Red and black swarm my vision, and I choke on a bitter cry as I hear the soft pitter-patter of timid footsteps nearby.

If only it were my brother coming to take me away...

Actions


	10. Wrong

The sound of thunder shook the halls of Darkmoor Manor, the building swaying atop its foundation from the raging winds that came with the sky's dreadful roar. Pounding on the windows and effectively shutting the manor off from the world, the sky cried its precious tears unto the earth, knowing what would soon befall the fate of every wizard in the spiral.

The dying candles of the sconces lined upon the walls shed dim light upon the nearly empty main hall of the stone manor, the inhabitants holed up in their own quarters and listening to the raging storm beating upon the walls and echoing through the empty air. However, a brave soul lingered among the great hall, nonchalantly resting upon a nearby sofa with his feet propped up on the arm and hands folded neatly across his chest. His cold, silver gaze watched the door that lead to the disaster outside at the top of the nearby stairs as if he were expecting someone to weather the storm so late at night. Dressed in Sidhe clothing, his crimson bangs brushed over his lax brow, casting an ominous shadow over his hooded gaze. Lips pulled into a stoic frown, he merely listened to the sound of the storm and the eerie ticking of a nearby cuckoo clock.

 _Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

An hour went by, the candles nearing the last stages of their life-some already having succumbed to a dark death.

 _Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

The man hadn't moved, nailed to his spot like the cuckoo clock on the wall. Even his expression hadn't changed, though as the flames died one by one, the shadows in the room only elongated, all pointed toward the cold man on the red sofa. His eyes are still trained to the door even now, boring holes into the wooden surface with his intense gaze.

 _He_ should be here by now.

As if by magic, the door swings open with the bitter wind, slamming against the nearby wall with a resounding BAM!

Shoes squish against the stone floor, and a tall shadow enters the manor from the harsh storm outside. Two distinct horns curve upward from the head, easily visible as they stand out from the rest of the human-like form. Rain pours in from the outside world, effectively forming a river from the door and down the stairs as the form growls and struggles to close the door against the intense wind. Shoes slide against the watery puddle as the shadow uses all its might to slam the door closed once more.

The sound reverberates amongst the walls, but the man on the couch remains unaffected as he watches with the same, blank gaze.

"You're late, Valkoor."

The white-haired wizard growls as he glares over his shoulder at the man. "An unexpected issue came up." His spike-studded jacket drips onto the ground below him, and he huffs as he takes off his fingerless gloves to wring them out. "OGRELEAF!"  
His cry rings out across the manor, and in almost an instance, the sound of footfalls reaches Valkoor's ears. Another man dressed in black, Krokotopian gear rounds the corner in a hurry. His grey hair sticks out from under his tall fez, eyes wide as he rushes up the stairs and stands before his leader.

"Yes, High Priest?" Wolf Ogreleaf pants, swallowing as he looks up to the other.

Valkoor regards him with stern, amethyst eyes. "Take care of my bike and clean up this mess."

Wolf scowls, glaring at the other as Valkoor walks past the weaker Death wizard, staring at the one lying on the couch nearby… When the hell was he Valkoor's slave? He grumbles to himself, dipping his head as he looks over at the redhead on the couch with pure anger and then excuses himself from the room to find some recruit to clean up the mess for him...

The man on the couch hasn't moved, eyes following the horned wizard's movements as to not let him out of his sight. "Mason, where is Lilu?"

"I wouldn't know. She does as she wishes; that's the nature of Lilu," the Ice wizard states blandly, blinking as he slowly sits up and his bangs fall over his eyes.

Snickering, Valkoor walks past his second strongest underling, Mason Ashhunter. The cold and calculated warrior has been by his side for longer than he can recall, but as with his second-in-command, Wolf Orgeleaf, he didn't trust him. He didn't trust any of them. In fact, if it weren't for the dangerous green witch he'd met nearly two years ago, he would have put Mason at the top of his wary list.

"I trust nothing has happened while I was gone?" he questions, not bothering to look back at the recipient of his question.

Standing up, Mason merely shakes his head and follows the black-clad Death wizard up the stairs toward the Organ Room. "Nothing worth reporting, your highness."

"Good. Make sure to inform the others of the letter I sent you earlier today…" he orders, pausing near the top to look at the redhead with a narrowed gaze. "Except Lilu."

"Oh~? What are you keeping from me this time, darling?"

Every fiber of his being tenses, and he reluctantly looks back toward the entrance to the Organ Room where he finds a certain green haired witch on the left, leaning against the stone frame. She's scantily clad in a green, silken robe, her cheek pressing against the stone pillar, fabric parted to reveal her left shoulder down to her collarbone and a creamy, white thigh exposed and leaving not much to the imagination. Emerald curls frame her porcelain face and fall down past her shoulders, bringing out the seductively dangerous expression in her eyes as she places a hand gently against the cold surface of the stone and manages a sly smirk.

Valkoor stares blankly for several moments, his breath caught in his throat as he stares at the stunning enchantress. It's her purring voice that breaks him from the spell she has him under.

"Valko~or, are you hiding something from me again? That isn't very kind of you, you know."

He exhales deeply, lips pulled into a stern scowl. "Lilu, it isn't any of your business….just...ju...what the hell are you wearing, anyway? This isn't the time for your antics. Did you catch the troll or not?"

She sighs, putting on a pouty face as she absently starts to rub her forefinger against the stone and make invisible patterns. "Can't a girl get a compliment around here?"

" _Lilu!"_

"All right! Fine! I thought it best to let it go, darling. I figured it would lead us right to Legendmancer. Less work for a beautiful girl like me…" She rolls her eyes, pulling from the pillar to saunter toward the two men with a playful expression. Batting her lashes, she wraps an arm around the leader's neck gently and cups under his ear with her right hand. Lips brush under his jaw as she speaks, shamelessly pressed against his front and eyelashes falling halfway to flutter against his cheek. "If you don't like it, you can do whatever you want to me, darling."

Valkoor stiffens, his breath caught once more as he refrains himself from making a sound. Every muscle in his body is frozen, and he can't move as his brain nearly melts from the feeling of her warmth pressing against his cold, wet body and the tickle of her breath against his bare skin. A familiar scent of Tiger Lilies and Trumpet Vines invades his nose, like a sweet poison dripping over his senses and luring him into the abyss of lust.

She's gotten too good at pressing his buttons. It's as if she knows exactly how to make any man tremble in her presences, to bend a man's will at the bat of an eyelash. That very power, Valkoor knows, is what makes her so very dangerous.

His hands hover over her sides as if he's about to embrace her, but reality turns on like a light switch, and his amethyst eyes widen as sense returns to him. Gritting his teeth, he pushes the witch off of him against the nearby wall, his hands finding her throat as he lifts her up and pins her to the wall.

Her green eyes expand in her skull, surprise on her face followed by fear as she struggles against his grip. "Va-l-ko-OR!" she gasps, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes as black already begins to form in the corners of her vision.

"I'm tired of your games, Lilu!" Valkoor hisses, and Mason merely stands in the background with a half-amused smirk on his face and arms crossed over his chest. "I told you to catch the troll!"

"Bu...But if they...find...the tr-oll...the-n...the la-ast one wi-ill...come...and...they will a-ll….bu-burn…" she managed to choke, her thrashing slowing down as her strength quickly waned. Her hands pull at Valkoor's in a desperate attempt to get him to let her go as her consciousness quickly fades.

The Death wizard hesitates, and a deadly aura has seemed to radiate from his body. Mason winces as he feels the death radiate from his leader, and he steps back in an attempt to avoid it when he realizes that his own skin is beginning to turn black. However, the witch remains unaffected by the rage of Valkoor's aura: the only one immune to their leader's outbursts of death.

"Fine. We'll do it your way, witch," Valkoor grumbles, letting go to allow the green haired woman to fall down to the ground with a gasp. She lands on her side, panting and coughing and trembling uncontrollably; however, Valkoor doesn't care as he turns away from her.

Her bloodshot eyes glared up at the leather clad wizard, and she bared her teeth. "I'm going to kill you one day, Valkoor Ashblood. And when that day comes, your screams will be my dying ecstasy.

A chill runs through him, and he glances back at Lilu as she slowly raises herself from the ground. "Until then, remember who saved you from the grave, Lilu. Recall who's blood runs through yours, undead witch. You are MINE."

Lilu snickers, glaring to the side before letting out a puff of hot air and closing her eyes. She calms her inner anger, her smirk returning to her face as she approaches him one more time. "And I'd love to be yours in every way, darling~"

"That's enough, Lilu. We've already been through this. I'm returning to my quarters, ALONE, and getting out of these wet clothes. That is final."

Stepping in front of him and pressing both her hands gently against his chest, she looks up at him with her bottom lip curled and head tilted to the right. "Are you sure you don't need any help, love?"

With a deep sigh, he catches her wrists and plies her hands from his chest. "I am quite sure. Goodnight, Lilu. See to it that what I told you is carried out, Mason."

Mason nods once in Valkoor's direction. "As you wish, Valkoor. It shall be done with haste."

The Death wizard regards Lilu for a moment, holding her gaze sternly as he speaks. "Be warned, demon: should you displease the master, you'll find yourself wishing that I hadn't found your body to begin with."

He lets go of her wrists abruptly, turning on his heel and marching past them and into the nearby room. Green eyes watching his retreating steps with an underlying hatred, Lilu's smirk never fades, and a tongue darts briefly from her lips to trace her top lip.

Mason turns his attention to the green haired mistress, inclining his head toward her. Sensing his cool gaze on her silk-clad form, she looks toward the Ice wizard and raises a brow. "What? Hoping to score on what my darling missed out on~?"

Blinking twice, the redhead pauses momentarily to look between the two, calculating the situation as he always does. He then raises his hand, offering it to the other in a silent question.

Scoffing at the gloved hand, she rolls her eyes and walks after Valkoor. Playfully, she blows a kiss over her shoulder and waves back at the unenthused Ice wizard. "I'm sorry, honey. I'm not a fan of easy prey…"

 **Xxx**

 ***Later***

Standing in sweet solitude, Valkoor stares into the flickering flames of his fireplace, arms crossed over his now bared chest. Tendrils of light crawl across the dark, paper walls, and ever so often, a flash of lightning serve to further brighten the room and illuminate the bland room that consists of nothing more than a plain bed, a fireplace, and a night stand. An old birdcage sits upon the nightstand, the bronze gleaming in the firelight and encasing two tiny songbirds. As one sings merrily to the tune of the crackling wood nearby, the other stands wearily, perched beside it in silence on the swing with head dipped low.

Amethyst eyes narrow in thought, and Valkoor grits his teeth as he remembers the day Valerian Legendmancer undid the master's plans and left the Ministry in ruins. He can remember the carnage, the blood of his allies splattered on the floor like a million flower petals scattered by the wind, and the sound of shrill screams in a demented orchestra of suffering. Had it been that stupid group of wizards suffering, he would have taken pleasure in it all, but all he had to show for it was one dead witch and the destruction of over half of the Ministry.

Afterwards, the Master had asked him to salvage what he could, so he took the only thing with any value to the Ministry…

"Lilu…" he mutters, sighing as he inclines his head toward the door with a sour expression. "I know you're there."

"Hehehehehehe~" The wooden door creaks open, a pale hand wrapping around the edge as a familiar face peers around the corner with a Cheshire Grin. "Sharp as ever, darling."

Brow twitching, the Death wizard brushes a hand over a single horn in annoyance. "What do you want?"

"I brought you something to nibble on~" she giggles as she enters the small room, a silver tray with sweet delicacies hovering behind her. Cakes and small pies leave no room to see the bottom of the tray, their smell filling the vaguely smoky room. Meandering past him, Valkoor's eyes watch the silken-clad from appreciatively, trained on the flirtatious sway of her hips and the way her bare feet tiptoe across the wooden floor.

"Fine, you can set it on the nightstand and leave." He turns his back to the green witch, and obediently, she sets it beside the birdcage. Smirking at the two songbirds, she pauses and admires the two white songbirds with a rare yet sweet gleam.

"These are fine specimens," she purrs, standing to look over to the other wizard in the room.

Valkoor glances over his shoulder to see what she's talking about and manages a small smile in return. "Indeed. They're gifts from one of the younger followers. I believe their name was Jasmine. She comes from a world where they're quite common."

"Oh~? Miss Jasmine? Should I be worried about this _Jasmine_ taking my man?" she cooes, raising a brow as she saunters toward Valkoor with a predatory grin.

"I am not ' _your man_ '," he snorts, turning his head away as he recrosses his arms. "Leave me be, Lilu."

"Leave you be? I know you don't mean that, Val~" she giggles, covering her lips with the tips of her fingers. "You know we're alone now...There's no need to act so cruel."

Her hands find his bare shoulders, fingers gently pressing to massage the stiff muscles as her lips find his ear. Valkoor could feel her pressing against him again, and her gentle breath against his ear sent a shiver coursing through him. Fingers digging into his biceps, he grit his teeth and managed a warning hiss.

" _Lilu…"_

Her answer was a taunting purr in his ear, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he debated either allowing her to stay or throwing her out the door by force. "Ye~s, love?"

Hands leaving his shoulders, the Death wizard could sense the fingers traveling between the two of their bodies, pulling away the silken barrier between them and letting it slowly flutter to the ground at their feet. Deft lips trace his shoulder blade to his spine, and he swallows as he fights himself, knowing that he promised that this wouldn't happen again-yet, here they were: her bare form pressed against his back and his pants far too tight for comfort.

His resolve dissolves into thin air, and as the piece of wood pops nearby, his patience in turn snaps.

" _Son of a bitch…"_

Lilu lets out a loud laugh as Valkoor abruptly turns around, crouching temporarily only to cup the back of her thighs and lift her up with ease. Mirthful triumph breaks out across the witch's face, and her fists entangle themselves in white hair when his greedy mouth finds her own and coaxes her lips apart with his own. Their tongues meet in a passionate tango, trying to drink each other dry of pleasure and swallowing the recurring moans. His hands find the small of her back, keeping her from falling backward while effectively pressing her warm body against his own.

It's only two steps until they reach the bed, Valkoor practically falling on top of the giggling green witch and desperate hands remapping a body he would probably admit knowing all _too_ well.

Porcelain soft skin beneath his fingertips, the way she squirms whenever her manages to find one of her own many buttons, beautiful emerald hair, bright green eyes like vibrantly colored leaves in spring...to Valkoor, she seems far too perfect to be real. There isn't a single scar on her flawless form, and he assumes that she must be under some other dark magic to be something so consummate.

Breaking the kiss with a brief trail of saliva connecting their lips, the Death wizard takes in the sight of the woman beneath him. Cheeks colored with a light hue of pink, eyes glazed over and half-lidded, and bared chest heaving and pressing against his own, she is the picture of any man's fantasy.

One hand tentatively reaching upwards and brushing over one of Valkoor's curved horns, Lilu smirks and rests her cheek against the rustled blankets beneath them. "What are you looking at, love?"

" _Something that shouldn't exist_ …" he mutters, amethyst eyes narrowed momentarily before he shakes his head and manages a small smile while pressing his lips to the skin of her throat, trailing down her body steadily.

Lilu lets out a purr of approval, body arching to his touch and skin tingling with every brush of skin. He's always been able to give her a thrill unlike any of the others in these damned walls. A pleasured hum fills the air as she trembles beneath her savior, head pressing back against the mattress and eyes closed in contentedness.

Yet, even with her eyes closed, she can still see _Him_.

"Move."

Valkoor's harsh voice snaps her from her train of thought, and she opens her eyes with a surprised blink before she grins at the determined and licentious expression plain as day on his face. Wiggling backward and readjusting herself, she lays on her side and rests her head against the plain, white pillow.

Gaze fixated on the green haired witch, Valerian commits her form to memory as he undoes his belt and takes in the hourglass curves and fair bosom; the way the firelight compliments her pale form and wraps her in a seductive glow mirrors the way her eyes seem to beckon him forth in the dark. The last articles of clothing on his body join her robe on the ground, and it doesn't take him long to join the beautiful visage, greedy to devour the dessert she has so graciously gifted him. The silver tray of sweets nearby is forgotten, and the delectable aroma is replaced with the scent of Tiger Lilies, ash, smoke, and sweat. Likewise, the crackling of the fireplace is drowned out by wanton, desperate moans and free giggles.

It's familiar for the both of them-a sinful treat that both knew they shouldn't partake in. Yet, even as they fill themselves with the other's presence and pleasure, it's still the same as it has always been for the green haired witch in the end.

White hair and amethyst eyes that are so familiar...but it's wrong...Everything about it is all so... _wrong_...

There's horns where there shouldn't be...tan skin that should be pale...rough, calloused hands holding her wrists that should instead be gentle and soft, fingers intertwined with her own. And while the name seems so familiar...it too just doesn't sound right when it falls from her parted, kiss-swollen lips. There's a ghost of _Him_ where her lover is, and she can't help but imagine it in place of him.

As the dream reaches its crescendo, she's left gasping for air as her hands fist in the fabric of the white pillows beneath her head, and his moan fills her ears...far too deep...far too wrong...Her trembling partner then rolls away from her, lying beside her. She lets out an exhausted laugh, giddy with ecstasy, but as she turns her head to say something to the Death wizard nearby, she is met with a back and a tired, inaudible mumble. That in itself is wrong...so very wrong...and a familiar ache returns to her chest where her heart once was.

Swallowing, she too turns onto her side away from the other and rests her cheek upon her hands. Sleep starts to tug at her lashes, and she sighs into the smoky air. Closing her eyes slowly, she imagines those ghostly, gentle hands combing through her hair and sweet nothings in her ears. However, as she nears sleep, the memory fades away with the pitter-patter of rain on the window into sweet nothingness...A single tear falls down her nose, and the silent bird in the cage falls from its perch in the cage…

 _Dead._


	11. The Next Day

_Bright…_

That's the first thing I think when I open my eyes to the outside world, struggling to have them open long enough for everything to come into focus.

Where...am I?

I moan, my chest vaguely sore as I turn onto my side and rest my cheek against something soft. A gentle hand rubs my ear, and I can't help but let out a hum as I lean against the touch.

"Shhh...You're all right...Don't move too much…" I can hear someone saying, but the world is nothing but a dream…

I can remember...something...vaguely...Like not being able to breathe...Blood...and...

 _THE DUEL!_

I shoot up in bed only to wince at the sharp pain in my torso, the world coming into view around me just as I hear a soft voice beside me and feel a gentle hand touch my shoulder to nudge me back down.

"Easy...Don't push yourself too hard…"

As I lay back down compliantly, the vague lines come into focus, and I realize where I am. I'm back in the room that's become my own over time, the bookshelves still steadily organizing themselves. However, this time, I'm free of my chains, and my clothes are neatly folded over the end railing of the bed near my feet. As my gaze flits over to my right, I see the very one-and-only tiny Death witch sitting in a chair nearby. Her amber gaze is set solely on me, tiny lips set in an even smaller smile.

Eyes narrowing, I shoot her a disdainful glare. Honestly, what the hell is she doing here anyway?

"Good morning, Calamity," she chirps, her voice more mousey than that stupid Burrower downstairs.

"Tssk, good morning," I snicker, turning my head away from the girl. Maybe if I ignore her, she'll just go away and leave me be to rot in this stupid castle. She's the reason I lost my chance to kill that other witch anyway…

Her hand reaches out to hold my own, and I can feel the warmth surrounding my paw...as well as the dread aura that comes with being a Death Wizard. "How's your injury?"

"Fine…" I mutter, and I am. I feel...more fine than I should be after that injury I sustained. What even happened afterward? I lift up the blanket enough to look down toward my bare torso and realize that there's nothing but the same perfection there has always been. Where there should be a large, diagonal slash is simply flawless, red fur.

The girl must have picked up on my confusion, for she speaks up at that very moment. "I...I healed you while you were unconscious...M..Mariah said it wasn't wise...but...I don't think you...you really hate us...I think you're just hurt...Like Val...Valerian was…"

She healed me..? I blink, letting the knowledge sink in, and a cold and revolting feeling begins to fall over me. That magic...touched me…

I rip my hand away with a snarl, ears flattened as I sit up and bare my teeth to the small witch. "Don't touch me, demon!" I snap.

She lets out a yelp as I pull away, yellow eyes wide in surprise as she blinks at me once and then dips her head to look at her lap. "I'm sorry…" With a tiny, nearly inaudible hum to herself, she stands and tilts her head to the side with an obviously forced, tiny smile. "I'm Scarlet, if it means anything to you. If...you need anything...you need only ask."

"Tssk, like I'd ask someone like you," I scoff, snickering as I roll my eyes.

"You know, Calamity, when a 'someone like me' heals someone, they give up a part of themselves to save another, and for just a moment-just...a fraction of a second-there's a bond between two souls," she mutters, walking toward the door, and I can make out the white bandages soaked with red sticking out from under her long sleeve. "When I looked at your soul, Calamity, I saw something so incredibly beautiful behind the miasma of anger you've let consume you; I'd love to see it again one day…"

And the door closed softly after her...

 **Xxx**

 ***Valerian's POV***

"Hmmm...What do you think, Angel?! Is it high enough?!" Mariah yells from above, holding up a wide banner painted with: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" stretched across the large entryway to the feast hall.

Angel frowns, his calculating gaze narrowing pensively. "Perhaps seven and a half decimeters upward would be more visually appealing…"

"Seriously, guys. This is going way too far…" I bring out, letting out a weary sigh as Mariah looks over her shoulder and places her hand on her hip with a sasy huff.

"Excuse me, birthday boy? This is the most important day of the year, and you ALWAYS forget it," she chides, her bottom, rosy red lip curling in a pout.

"No, I don't 'forget it', I simply...choose to ignore it," I mutter, crossing my arms as I look anywhere else than the hotheaded fire witch upon the nearby ladder. "It's not that big of a deal anyway."

"NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL?!" I hear her screech, and I wince as she pauses to likely put the banner in place before storming down her ladder. Heels clicking on the floor, Angel steps out of her path as not to be involved with her frivolous fury. "Lemme tell you what, handsome pants, I'm so sick and tired of your little slumps. You need to pull your head out of your ass and let your friends throw you this sick ass party, cause I'm not putting up with your attitude anymore. Got that, Mr. Savior of the Spiral?"

By this point, it's easier to give in to her demands than put up with her arguing (as she'll go on for days without respite, from personal experience). Dipping my head, I manage a forced smirk and look toward the witch whose hands are firmly planted on her lips and green eyes boring holes into my very soul. "Fine. Do whatever."

Her stern scowl breaks into an uncensored grin as she claps her hands together and bounces on one foot. "YAY~!" she squeals before grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the feast hall. "Come, come! Let me show you the diagram Angel drew up for us!"

It's not surprising how well detailed the diagram is that she shows me. Everything from exact specification on height and volume to even the spot-on scale in regards to everything in involved-it's something that's become expected in anything touched by the infamous perfectionist, Angel Dunerunner.

"And, um...here we have the cake...and ooh! We can put some balloons over here, and…" Mariah's voice fades into the background as I think back on the duel from yesterday. The image of that Avalonian (Calamity, I believe her name was) standing over me and ready to take away my breath for the rest of my miserable existence is still fresh in my mind. Sword raised high into the afternoon sky, she was prepared to end me with one fell swing… Mariah might take tribute for saving me from 'certain death,' but I'm no fool. Even as my adrenaline raced through me, every nerve in my body screaming in fear at what seemed to be the inevitable, something inside told me that she wouldn't take her chance.

"VALERIAN?! Are you even listening to me?!" Mariah huffs, glaring at me as my cheeks warm in embarrassment.

Did she say something important?

"Um...Uh…" I stumble over my words, trying to find an answer that won't lead to the Fire witch burying me in the stead of Calamity.

"She's awake."

Scarlet's voice is my savior as all eyes land on the one-and-only entering the room to approach the three of us.

"Hmph, about time. Thought she was going to sleep the week away," Mariah snickers, crossing her arms over her bosom and rolling her eyes. However, the moment Scarlet comes within arm's length, her expression softens into something akin to concern, and she reaches over to gently grab the other's hand to lift up her sleeve. "How's your arm?"

"It's doing fine," Scarlet replies, blushing as she dips her head to cast a shadow over her eyes.

Angel looks over my shoulder curiously (though his curious face and his I-Don't-Care face are the exact same...just like pretty much every expression he has). "I still fail to register why you bothered with healing her. If you hadn't, the chances of Valerian's murder would have drastically decreased…"

"After all these years, I'd hope you'd learn what the word sympathy and generosity meant," I mutter, and I look over at Scarlet's arm as Mariah unwraps it to reveal the healing slash marks across her wrist. It's a familiar, yet sickening sight-even now.

Mariah sighs, looking them over and turning her arm forward and backward to inspect the entire expanse of creamy white skin. "At least they're healing nicely, but you'll need new bandages…Where's Skeet?"

"Skeet's in the kitchen preparing for tonight's dinner," I reply only for Angel to step forward and gesture toward the nearby door.

"I can take care of it for you," he says in the same dry tone as ever, blinking slowly before turning on his heel to exit the room.

"Thank you."

Scarlet walks after him, and Mariah watches after her with a longing and concerned countenance. "I wish Lily were still here," she whispers, closing her eyes and reaching up to play with the end of her braid.

If Lily were still here, Scarlet wouldn't have to subject herself to the self-mutilation required in reviving others. Regardless of that fact, I'm quite sure that everyone wishes Lily were still here. However, no matter how much damage Scarlet inflicts upon herself, she can't bring back dead, especially when there's no body left in the first place.

"Val..?" Mariah calls my name much quieter than usual, and I turn my attention to the redhead looking over her little diagram. "If something like...THAT...happens to me...promise me that...you won't let Scarlet try and bring me back?"

It's a question that causes a lump in my throat because it isn't something I can promise. "I...Mariah...that isn't…"

"Nevermind, Val. It's not going to happen anyway." With that said, she flips around with the same flamboyant grin as ever, flipping her braid over her shoulder with a sassy 'hmph.' "No one can kill the Goddess of Fire."

Good. She's still here.

I smile affectionately and soften my gaze before speaking. "I wouldn't know a single person who'd dare try."

"Sir, the food is almost ready. Did you intend for that...creature to accompany us?" Skeet walks into the room with his hands behind his back, head held high. His nose twitches, and I can tell he's already irritated at the thought.

Nevertheless, time is ticking, and I can't afford to allow Calamity to sit in my room hiding all week.

"I do. You can continue preparing, and I'll fetch her."

"Very well…" is his dry response, and his nose twitches again as he turns tail and head back whence he came.

Time to lure out a beat from its cave…

 _Joy…_

 **Xxx**

"Calamity?" I knock on the door three times, giving the Avalonian time to prepare herself for my entry as I'm loathe to walk into a sight like I saw the first time she was conscious in my bed…

Irrefutable curves...Modest bosom...silky, red fur...

STOP!

I won't even think about it. Torn between disgust and fascination, I shake the images out of my head and focus on the task at hand as I open the door a crack to peek in when I receive no response. "Calamity?"

"Go away…" I hear a muffled reply, and I am greeted with the sight of the clothed (thank the Spiral) Avalonian face down on my bed with her face buried in a pillow like a child throwing a fit.

"Would you please join us for dinner?" I ask with the most convincing, positive attitude I can, but I'm well aware that the chances of me convincing her to leave is like trying to convince a bear to set down a hive full of honey in favor of a stick of dried up berries.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"There's ca-"

"I said no."

With a huff, I march over to the bed, determined to change her mind. "Calamity, we made a deal that you would provide me with a chance to change your mind about me. Hiding yourself away in here will dishonor you."

"Food doesn't change my mind, wizard. Now, get out before I change my mind about upholding our deal," she grumbles, and my brow twitches.

Fine, if she wants to starve, she can go ahead and starve. Maybe she'll starve to death before the week's up.

"Suit yourself," I grumble, shuffling over toward the door when I hear...IT.

 _Rumble-gurgle-gumble._

What the…? Was that..?

 _Guuuuuurgle._

Well then...I guess her stomach and her mind aren't on the same track.

"Calamity...I can't cut out your stomach and take it with me. I need the rest of you to come downstairs. Are you coming, or are you going to sit up here like a child?"

"..."

 **Xxx**

 ***Calamity***

Stupid wizard.

Stupid stomach.

Stupid agreement.

Stupid freaking honor.

I glower at the wizards seated at the table, sitting myself across the table from that witch from this morning and effectively one seat away to the left from the weird wizard with that ever-lasting frown on his face. Who put thorns in his cereal?

Valerian seats himself at the head of the table, the fire and death witches to his right, and that weird wizard and myself to his left. Plates are carefully placed in front of us, wrapped silverware lying atop them with empty glasses to the top left. An ornate, white tablecloth and draped over the long table which could easily seat up to fifteen more people, and the crystal chandelier gleams with the light of the candles placed inside it.

I do my best not to make eye contact with anyone at the table, and the feeling of the cold stares of that weird wizard and the fire witch makes me want to squirm in my seat. To say the least, I'm uncomfortable.

At the sound of footsteps, I raise my head to look at Skeet approaching with a trolley filled with various silver-covered trays. Several aromas begin to fill my nose, and I can feel the saliva building in my mouth, my stomach grumbling again with the promise of food.

"That smells lovely, Skeet~" croons the redhead, clapping her hands together as she practically gushes over the course. She's likely said what we're all thinking.

"Thank you," is his curt reply as he sets the trays on the table and uncovers them one-by-one to reveal assortments of boar, maize, pastries, potatoes, and more.

As soon as he's finished, we all seem to dig in at the same time, and I hurriedly start grabbing anything I can get my fork into. A slice of boar meat, slathered with gravy, a heap of maize, an entire flame-cooked potato, and a veritable mountain of cake.

It only takes a few seconds for me to start gorging myself with it, and I'm frankly surprised that it tastes this good. Apparently, that Burrower can actually do more than nag.

Chewing my food and silverware clinking against the plate as I prepare my next bite, I realize that I don't hear the same sounds from the others sitting at the table. Looking up, I notice that everyone's gaze is solely on me as if I have four heads. What..the…?

And what's with the steaming look on the Burrower's face? It's angrier than usual...And...Valerian almost looks...like he's afraid of something..? What's going on?

I look behind me just in case there's something I'm just no aware of, but there's nothing. Then...what…?

"You. Savage." The hiss comes from the Burrower, and I narrow my gaze to the butler whose teeth are bared in a vicious snarl.

What is he talking about? I'm just eating food.

I look around at the others' plates and realize that none of their food has been touched. Don't they want to eat too? Or...are they waiting for something? But, what could they possibly be waiting for?

I feel like I did as a young pup when Agravaine caught me stealing sweets from the pantry when I was supposed to be fasting for an old Avalonian holiday with a name that I've quite forgotten now. My stomach feels slightly queasy, and I'm certain it has more to do with a twinge of guilt than the food I've just consumed.

"Heh? What? Was I chewing with my mouth open or something?"

"UNGRATEFUL, NONSECULAR, FILTHY-PAWED, UNCULTURED, UNMANNERED BEAST!" he screeches, picking up the knife for cutting the boar and hopping on the table with the sharp end pointing in my direction.

What in the name of King Artorius is his problem?!

"Wh-What?" I blink stupidly for a few seconds before my own temper and patience starts to wane. "Excuse me? What's your problem? Unmannered? You're the one standing on the table!"

"OH! YOU VILE SAVAGE! LET ME SHOW YOU UNMANNERED WHEN I CUT YOUR EYES OUT AND MAKE THEM INTO JELLY FOR YOUR TOAST IN THE MORNING!"

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!" I shout back, throwing myself at him and tackling him off the table and onto the ground. He lets out a squeak of surprise as his knife is knocked out of his hands from the impact, as well as his breath.

Struggling under me, he curses some profanity in a language I cannot speak and manages to roll us over and starts trying to punch my face. I hold his tiny hands, keeping my arms locked so that he can't move his own. It frustrates him, and he lunges to bite my muzzle.

However, our spat is cut short as all the weight on top of me magically disappears. Skeet is yanked off by his single horn and thrown aside, and all I see is the dark shadow looming over top of me, yellow eyes glowing.

A dark, deep voice speaks. "Are you...quite finished?"

I swallow, blinking as I make out the form of the tiny Death witch glaring at the both of us. Skeet hops to his feet, bowing immediately to the equally tall witch. "I apologize for the disturbance, Miss Skullsplitter, and humbly beg your pardon."

Whatever. I've quite had it with this bunch. Screw my deal! Screw these wizards! Screw my plan!

I'm going home.

Shaking my head with a growl, I stand and brush past the small witch to stomp toward the door.

"Calamity?! Where are you going?" I hear her ask, and I don't bother to look back at whomever's footsteps are following me.

"I'm leaving."

I walk down the great hall, ears flat and eyes set on one prize.

The great door of the castle slams behind me, and I'm met with a cold and bitter wind…


	12. The Talk

" _Calamity!_ "

The sound of my name rings in the open air, echoing through the wintery valley, and as it reaches my ears, I do nothing but brush it off.

My boots sink into the freshly fallen snow, and the bitter wind sinks through my fur and into my skin. Running as fast as I can, a bitter anger resides deep within me, boiling my blood despite the cold world I'm trapped in.

I'm not quite sure where I'm going; only that I want to venture as far as I can from those wizards-wizards who think they're a step above everything else. Maybe if I could find my way, I would go home...but...it's been so long...I'm not sure…

The landscape is nothing but snow and mountains and the occasional tree. Now, the cobblestone path I followed to the castle is completely obscured by the endless hills of white.

"Calamity! _Wait!_ "

A hand catches my wrist, spinning me around. The motion of me moving forward keeps my body moving in the same direction, and the weight of something (or someone) crashes into me, pushing me down toward the ground. My breath leaves me as I sink through a layer of snow, eyes squeezed shut as I let out a yelp from the force of the impact above me, I'm thankful that the soft snow is there to cushion the blow of my fall.

A warmth lays over top of me sharply contrasting the cold beneath. However, it leaves me quickly, and I open my eyes to gaze into familiar amethyst.

Valerian pants, his cheeks and nose flushed with pink from the cold. His white hair flecked with shining bits of ice and snow sticks up in every which direction, giving him a youthful wild visage. Hands buried in the snow on either side of my head, he looks at me first with panic and then relaxes. He lets out a sigh, closing his eyes and managing a small smile. "I caught up to you…"

"Yeah, I can see that," I mutter, looking away toward the mountains with a disdainful scowl. "Now get the hell off."

Eyes shooting open, the color on his face deepens as he scrambles to his feet. "S-sorry about that! Here, let me help you up."

He holds a hand in my direction that I can't help snickering at. "I'm fine. Leave me alone," I grumble as I too stand, batting his hand away. Honestly, I'm perfectly capable of standing on my own. Brushing myself off, I ignore the flabbergasted expression on his face and turn in the direction I was heading.

"Hey! Stop! Where are you going?" I can hear Valerian's footsteps behind me, following me like an incessant puppy.

"I'm going home," I reply sharply, throwing an annoyed look at the storm wizard close on my trail.

"Where is that?"

"Does it matter?"

"I think it does. You're from Avalon, right? What part?"

"Shut up and leave me alone!" I hiss, turning on my heels to bare my teeth at him.

He blinks in surprise at my outburst, stopping in his tracks to look at me owlishly. Taking in my words for only a moment, he then shrugs and crosses his arms. "I can't do that. You owe me. We made a deal. You're supposed to give me a chance to change your mind. Running away breaks your promise."

"I don't care. I'm not coming back to kill you. I've had enough of your face for one day!" I huff, glaring at him before turning my head away.

"Really? Enough of this handsome face? I doubt that. I think you're just in denial."

"De-Denial?!" What the hell is he smoking?! My head whips around, jaw slack at his bold statement. As if I would ever be attracted to his kind!

"Heh," he chuckles to himself, as if satisfied by both his statement and my reply. "Look, I'm just asking for a chance. Can we just start over?"

 _Start over?!_ What does he want: for me to try killing him again? I'm sorely tempted, but I hold my tongue as he raises his hand toward mine.

"Valerian Legendmancer, Storm Wizard from Ravenwood. It's an honor to meet you."

I sigh. What good will any of this do? I suppose that I could...humor him. It wouldn't hurt in any way, I guess. After all, I do have an agreement to adhere to, and for the time being, he knows how to leave this place and return to Avalon.

Tentatively, I give in and place my hand in his, shaking it gently. "Calamity Dragonbane, Knight of the High Road."

"The High Road? I remember it as a beautiful place," he comments with a small smile, shaking my hand in return before returning it to his side.

"Yeah, it is…" I mutter, my mind losing itself in memories of the red and orange leaves dangling above the fields of untouched green and the numerous cream-colored cottages lined along the cobblestone path leading to Caer Lyon. I can almost feel warm breeze of endless summer rustling my fur and the sounds of young badgers sparring as they train to become true knights of Avalon.

"I actually came from a world without magic before I came to study at Ravenwood," he comments, shrugging as he steps aside gestures in the direction I was originally running. "Would you care to join me for a walk?"

"...Fine…" I mutter, letting the information sink in. A world without magic? Does such a place truly exist? Instantly, I was drawn into my younger, curious self...during the days I spent with Agravaine. "What was that place like?"

"My home world?" He looks at me for a moment, and I nod at his statement. "Hmm...It wasn't much different from any world, I suppose. It was very diverse, as were the people. Of course, most looked like me, but the way we thought and acted was all very different. In fact, my people were constantly fighting with one another. Sometimes, I think it was the bickering and fighting that drove away any magic we might have had long before I was ever born. And because of that, we were closed off from the rest of the Spiral. In fact, my people were so closed minded that they thought they were the only ones in the Spiral."

"Really?" It's a scary thought...the fact that there's more than one arrogant prick like Valerian in the galaxy. Following him closely, I wonder where we're going. Are we simply walking aimlessly through the snow? It wouldn't surprise me. He does a lot of dumb things.

"Yeah. One day, a talking, walking frog comes up to me and convinces me to come to Ravenwood. Nine years later, here I am," he chuckles, shrugging and looking back toward me with a small smile.

"What about your parents? They were okay with you being whisked off to a strange, new world?" I ask, as I know that eventually he's going to ask me for my own life story. Although, I hardly feel like sharing it.

His smile fades, and he looks back to where he's walking. "I lost my family when I was very young. I had no ties to my world when the Professor took me to Ravenwood. I doubt there's anyone left that even remembers I existed."

"Oh...Are the rest of them from your world too?"

"You mean Angel, Mariah, and Scarlet?" he asks, and I assume he's talking about the other wizards inside. I nod. "Well, Cody, Vanessa, and I were still students at Ravenwood when we met Mariah. While Cody was originally from Wizard City, Mariah was actually a member of high society from Marleybone. Her family sent her to Ravenwood as punishment for her...choice of sexuality. She was-and is-a lot to handle at the time, but eventually she joined the group when we took off to explore Krokotopia. After we met Lily and Skeet, our team went to a place called Darkmoor. We met Scarlet there, a slave one of the many lords. When we defeated her lord, Mariah bullied her into joining. As for Angel, he joined our team when we went to Agrabah in Mirage. He used to be one of the biggest thieves in all of Mirage, and ironically enough, he fell in love with Scarlet and joined the team. Unfortunately for him, Scarlet wasn't on his side of the fence, if you know what I mean."

"Did you love her too?" I ask, as it seems as if everyone adores that secretly demented Death witch.

"I've always seen Scarlet as a little sister. So, yes, I love her…just not in that way. Angel had a thing for pretty much every girl on the team like Cody does. Now, he has his sights set on Vanessa, but no one has seen Vanessa since she retired as Wizard City's most distinguished Warlord for three ages. Rumor has it that she settled down somewhere in her home world of Polaris."

I'd rather keep this conversation going and keep asking questions than him return the favor. "Who's Cody?"

"Cody is a childhood friend of mine. We met on my first day of school and have been best friends since. He's a myth wizard. In fact, he's the one you met when you were locked away almost a month ago. Do you remember him?"

"Yes…"

"Yeah...He has a thing for any woman he sets his sights on. It lands him into trouble a lot; in fact, he really _is_ just trouble. I've had to save his ass more times than I can hope to count. But that's what makes a good friendship, I guess. Heh, I remember the day he saw Vanessa in Ravenwood, walking down the street from her latest class. He basically started drooling when he pointed her out to me, and he bet twenty gold pieces that he could get her to go on a date with him. I don't know what he said to her, but the look of fury on her face was priceless. It wasn't soon after when she literally froze his legs to the ground, slapped him as hard as she could across the face, and then taped a sign to his back that said: 'Slap me: I'm a manwhore,' haha," he laughed, a carefree expression on his face as he walked alone one of the stone walls of the mountains surrounding his castle. "From then on, he asked her out every single day that semester. He was slapped so many times that I'm sure that to this day, he still has a handprint-shaped scar on his face."

"That sounds brutal," I comment; although, truthfully, I probably would have done the same. Men are sickening, perverted creatures.

"Yeah, but Cody usually just moves on to the next best thing when he doesn't get what he wants. He's flighty to say the least. He moves through lovers like a child with a bag of candy."

' _Isn't that all men?'_ I wonder.

"What about you? Have you ever fallen in love?"

Crap. He asked a question. I should have been more on top with my own. I looked away from him, hoping that I can pretend not to hear his question and instead answer with one of my own. "So, what's your favorite color?"

Stupid. So stupid. Honestly, could I not have come up with a better question?!

"...Purple? Don't change the subject. You have to answer some of my questions too. Don't be evasive. It's not like I'm going to run through the Commons in Wizard City, spouting off all your deepest, darkest secrets," he points out dryly, raising an eyebrow at me.

"..." I lower my head, staring at my boots as they repetitively raise themselves out of the snow only to disappear again in white.

"Well? Fine. If you don't want to answer that question, I'll move onto something a little easier. What do you do for fun?"

"Fun?" I blink, tilting my head for a moment in thought. I haven't really done anything recreational ever since Agravaine's death. For so long, I've been so focused my training and on my revenge that I haven't done anything. "I...um...I haven't...done anything ' _fun_ ' for...a really long time…" I whisper, looking away as my cheeks heat the slightest amount in embarrassment.

"Truly? That's...awful...I'm sorry. What did you like to do, then?" he asks softly.

I pause for a moment in thought, reaching back into my memories oh so long ago. "I enjoyed training. It was my dream to be a knight…"

"But besides training? Is that all you did: _train?_ "

"Sometimes Caer Lyon would hold extravagant parties in the town square in honor of our king. I enjoyed attending-the folk songs, the sound of the lutes, the dancing, the gambling, all of it," I recalled, lost in the memories. "I can remember…when I would watch Agravaine trying to charm a lady to dance with...when he would...eventually fail and end up asking me to dance as a last effort. The night would end with a bonfire...and everyone would take turns leading another song dedicated to the king and Avalon."

Valerian smiles, nodding as I speak and then finally adding on when I finish. "So, did you sing too?"

"Uh...um...Well...I-I-I'm by no means a go-good singer…" I manage, flushing as I look away. The topic of my singing has always been a sensitive subject. I don't consider myself in any way a decent singer. I'd rather sing with the whistle of my blade than anything.

"I bet you are. You have a decent enough speaking voice," he teases, elbowing me with a playful smile, and I cast my glance away. "You should totally sing something for my birthday this week."

"I...politely decline the invitation…" I bring out, swallowing bashfully as I reach up to subconsciously rub at one of my ears. "Your birthday, though...It's this week?"

"Yeah...Mariah is forcing me to throw a party. It's in two days. She's practically invited everyone from like...14 worlds...including those snot-nosed pigs from Wysteria…" he whines, rolling his eyes with a slight pout. It makes him seem much younger than he seems to be.

"How old will you be turning, then?"

"Uh...twenty-one, I think," he says slowly, eyes narrowing in thought. "It's amazing to think that I became a wizard nine years ago...Really...It doesn't seem like that long…"

I catch Valerian smiling slightly as he walks beside me, and he stops suddenly in his tracks. "Come here, I want to show you something." He motions for me to follow him, and he disappears between a crevice in the mountainside. I duck my head and squeeze through the crevice, scooting with my back pressed against the wall from the tight space. A bright light shines from the other side, and I wince as I finally step out and into something from a dream.

Bright green grass gently sways in the wind, flowers in full bloom and wafting delicate aromas into the air and thus into my nose. A river runs through the hidden plateau that is sheltered above from the wintery world by a mountain ledge. I step forward, blinking in awe as I watch Valerian walk toward a white bridge stretching over the running water. He pauses at the top with a cheeky grin and waves me on.

"Come on! You look like you've just tasted chocolate for the first time!" he laughs, a light and carefree sound.

Following him over the bridge, he leads me to a private gazebo, the pillars decorated with trumpet vines. The trumpet vines honk at my arrival, tooting their horns in a delightful song. It makes a small, genuine smile appear on my face for the first time in a while. They remind me of the trumpet vines back home…

I reach out to touch one of the flowers in awe and don't care of the looming presence of the Storm wizard behind me. Everything else seems to fade into the background as the trumpet vine toots happily at my touch, pressing into one of my paws for my attention. Another gets jealous, honking loudly, and Valerian laughs as he speaks up.

"They like you."

"Apparently so," I mutter as I reach out to the jealous vine, touching its petals gently as a whole chorus starts up in protest. I step back, containing a small laugh as I know I won't be able to give my attention to all of them.

"All right, all right! Settle down," he chides, wagging a finger at them as they all droop and eventually quiet down. The depression seems to loom in the air, and a small feeling of pity forms in me. Nevertheless, Valerian waves me out of that mindset, motioning for me to stand next to him as he leans against the railing.

As I approach him, I look over in awe at the beautiful spectacle before me. A large pond stretches out in front of us, covered in lily pads and tiny green frogs swimming and hopping about as they please. The crystal-clear spring water sparkles with light, almost like a there's a million diamonds beneath the surface. Cat tails sway like the grass and complete the picture of the beauty before me. I can't help but mutter, " _Wow…_ "

"Yeah…" Valerian sighs, arms laying on the white railing and knuckles pressed against his pale cheek. "I like to come here to think...or really just to relax...When I'm here...it's like...just for a little while, everything seems okay-like the Spiral is at peace."

"For the time being, it is," I comment, and I know that it is because of the Storm wizard and his team. I can't deny that evidence, but at the same time, they did so at a steep price.

Valerian pauses, glancing at me from the corner of his eyes. "Does that mean I already changed your mind?"

"No. Not even close, wizard scum," I growl, glaring at him for his audacity to think such a thing.

"But this is progress. We're holding an actual conversation with no attempted murdering or yelling or fighting," he points out with a small smile. "I'll take what I can."

"Hmph, whatever…" Although, he has a point.

"Calamity...who was your brother? What was he like?"

The question comes out of the blue and causes me to blink in surprise, and he doesn't look at me as his amethyst gaze is casted solely on the pond below us.

"...His...name was Sir Agravaine...one of the Knights of the Round Table and one of the most respected in all of Avalon. He was smart...kind...and very talented with a sword. He taught me everything he knew, even though I'm a girl. There aren't many female knights, you know. He would have given everything for Avalon…" I manage, and the topic creates a knot in my throat. "Why do you care, anyway?"

"...Don't think that I'm oblivious to the things I've done for the Spiral. I don't remember your brother. I don't remember what I did. It all blurs into the history of nine years. However, I know the pain of what happened and of what you feel is all too real…" He sighs, turning toward me with one hand on the rail and the other waving as he speaks. "For what I've done to you, and for what I may have done to many others around the Spiral, I am truly and humbly sorry. I can only ask for your forgiveness…Whether or not you can accept that, is not up to me."

I regard him for a moment, and the sincerity in his eyes is unquestionable. That fact alone causes unease in my stomach, and I turn my head away so that I cannot see it anymore. I will not allow for his smooth words to trick me. I am not gullible.

" _Calamity...Look at me._ "

Reluctantly, I turn my head enough so that I can look at him from the corner of my eye. "Hmm?"

"I do not care what you decide to do to me at the end of this week-whether you decide to spare my life or not. However, I do care that when you make that decision, you can do so with no regrets. I've had my share of regrets; do not step into my shoes and follow upon the path of guilt. Trust me, it sucks."

He tries to let out a small chuckle at his last sentence, but I can sense the tenseness in both his words and his body. There's a certain pleading in his eyes, and I close my eyes in defeat and give a small nod. "I will take that into consideration."

"Thank you, Calamity," he manages with a relieved sigh, looking toward the setting sun in the distance. "Then, if you will excuse me, I would presume that everyone else is getting worried around now. Will you come back with me?"

I hesitate, looking toward one of the trumpet vines as a distraction. "I'm not quite sure I want to return just yet…" I don't feel like talking to that stupid Burrower.

"If you're worried about Skeet, I'm sure Scarlet already talked him down. But, take your time. Head back whenever you feel ready…" he says, bowing slightly toward me as he takes a step back. "Thank you for listening to what I've had to say."

Valerian turns around, heading out of the gazebo and over the bridge toward the crevice. As I pet one of the trumpet vines absentmindedly, I let out a small sigh.

I'm not sure what came over me, but the moment I saw the wizard nearing the crevice, something in me snapped.

What am I even doing?

"Valerian! _Wait!_ "


End file.
